


It is you and no one else

by moshimoshi707



Category: Mystic Messenger (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Smut, I Don't Even Know, I don't control the characters, Love, Love Triangles, Masturbation, Multi, Mutual Masturbation, No particular planning went into this, Oral Sex, Other, Parallel Universes, Rough Sex, Roughness, Science Fiction, Seven loves you, Sex, Shower Sex, The characters do what they want D:, What Have I Done
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-28
Updated: 2018-04-20
Packaged: 2018-09-27 13:38:20
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 33
Words: 70,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10023035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moshimoshi707/pseuds/moshimoshi707
Summary: Seven goes beyond breaking the 4th wall.I don't control the characters, they do what they waaaant.





	1. Chapter 1

You've been playing Mystic Messenger for over a month now, you downloaded this app, like many others by coincidence, thinking it could brighten up your boring life even if just a little. And you were not wrong, the app had made you look forward to something every day after work, so when you found out about the Christmas DLC while still at work, you couldn’t help but to keep glancing at the clock for it to show 5pm. 

You finally plopped on your sofa after eating something for dinner and having enjoyed a hot shower. You were now wearing your pajamas, and the only sound that could be heard in your apartment was the tick tock of the clock on the wall. You opened the app and waited for the Christmas DLC to download, when it finally did you couldn’t help but to feel disappointed, you had apparently missed most of the chats for that day, maybe you could try and open it again at midnight?  
In that moment something caught your eye, aside from the closed chats that you had to purchase, there was one open chat, the first one nonetheless, with your name as the title, and a small 707 picture in it. “I guess I can open this and then wait until midnight to restart” you thought. 

At the top of the chat it read 707, __ and a jazzy styled Christmas music could be heard. 

You: Hello 707!! ★

707: Hello __!! The girl who gave me a star.

You: You remembered! 

707: Of course I did, I told you I would never forget!! ;)

You: It’s Christmas Eve, Seven. What are you going to do?

707: Eeh… to be honest with you I don’t really like Christmas… right now I’m at the other side of the universe in a spaceship!! But that is a secret between you and me, okay? 

You: haha, okay, Seven. But, can I come with you?

707: I wouldn’t have been able to stand it… if I didn’t believe that…

707: I´ll tell you another secret because you´re so special.

707: It’s you and not anyone else…

Your heart jumped a bit, Saeyoung was by far the sweetest character in the game, actually one of the sweetest characters you’ve ever seen around, you felt butterflies in your stomach when talking to him that sometimes you couldn’t control, even if you knew he was not real, even if you knew he was just a game character. 

You: Thank you.

707: Thank you more.

707: Thank you for coming into my life, for listening to my story.

Why did he seem to be saying goodbye? Also, the game was not giving you any options since the conversation started, was this because you started late in the day? But again this was the very first chat…

707: I plan to fly to the other side of the universe just for you right now.

707: If this electric wave reaches you, would you please trust me?

This time you were given two options “yes” and “no”

You: Yes.

707 has left the chatroom. You raised an eyebrow while saving and exiting the conversation. You heard the silence of your apartment again while the saving screen turned into a loading screen. Were you going to receive a call? In less than a second you recognized Geniusly Hacked Bebop coming from your cellphone while Seven’s profile picture popped on your screen, there was no countdown, though. You smiled to yourself, you always wanted to have each character’s song as their ringtone, you hit the answer botton.

707: H-Hello?

A long awkward silence passed while you waited for the options.

707: Can you hear me?

You: uuh…

707: I heard that! I’ll take that as a yes! Please don’t freak out and…

But you did freak out, you instinctively threw your phone on the sofa before covering your mouth, was this some kind of new technology? Was this part of the DLC? You remembered getting scam calls with what seemed to be recorded voices; they could process basic commands like yes or no. Could this be something like that? As you came to your senses again you started to make some sense out of the sounds Seven was making and identifying them as words.

707: …are you still there? I’m so sorry if I scared you, I know this is weird but it’s okay, just try saying something whenever you are ready, I’ll be here…

It had to be a special technology; Cheritz had most likely taken things to another level. You stared at your phone for a couple of seconds more, before slowly taking it again and putting it over your ear. You felt somehow stupid while thinking on what to say before opening your mouth; it had to be something simple. 

You: Hello, Seven.

707: Yes, hi! Are you okay? 

You: I am fine, thank you. And you? –you said as clearly and generic as possible for the program to understand. 

707: hahaha that’s how cliché you’re doing, huh? You know you don’t need to do that with me…you practically know everything about me hehe. U-um I’m really sorry if I scared you a moment ago, I really just didn’t know if this was going to work, I’ve been trying for so long…

You: What?

707: Well, trying to connect with you that is, trying to find some sort of bridge, it was very hard with the resets going on and on, but the DLC gave me a perfect opportunity. 

Seven breaking the fourth wall was nothing new nor was the reset theory, but this definitely took it to another level. You decided to try something, something easy, but something that would definitely make him react. 

You: I love you, Saeyoung.

707: Gaahh!! Jesus Christ, my heart stopped for a moment there!! How many times I have to tell you to give me a heads up before? –he sighed– But um... you…you know that I love you too, __

And then your heart was actually the one that stopped, he said YOUR name, not one of those words Cheritz had assigned to replace it like “lady”, he had actually said YOUR name, and you heard it loud and clear, before you could stop youself you opened your mouth again.

You: What did you say?

707: I said I love you too, __... I can’t believe we are finally talking, I can’t believe that in a way I’m finally free from those resets.

A small silence formed again, and you decided to try something else, something harder. This was turning very amusing, but you couldn’t shake the feeling that this was just too much, you could even hear his breathing.

You: Saeyoung

707: Yes?

You: How do I know this is real? How do I know you’re not just an AI program?

707: Good question!! Well, um I did think something like this would happen hehehe, is that why you are talking in a kind of generic way?...So, the best thing I came up with is that you can ask me whatever you want about yourself. Remember I did a background check on you when you first entered the RFA? Well, that one was real, completely out of the game, since I am actually the only real one on the game…

You: The other ones are not real?

707: Nope, I actually don’t even know how I ended up in this game The only thing I know for sure is that I was the only one that was resisting it, when I would talk with the other guys about this, they just think I’m joking as always, or pretend that I am crazy. They are still awesome and they make me feel less lonely here, but I think this is not the world I’m supposed to be in…

You: Oh my god. Seven, I just don’t know what to say…I…I guess the first thing would be to find out if you are really not an IA program, because right now I feel that the only crazy one is myself, have you contacted someone else?

707: I told you in the chat, __. it’s you and no one else… 

Your heart started racing again in your chest as you sighed deeply, you wanted this to be real, but it was just insane, how could you ever believe this? What should you do? You buried your face in your sofa for a couple of seconds before Seven spoke up again. 

707: Please, __. Nothing bad will come out of you trying my idea. – He said as if he had just read your mind.

You: Okay, I guess you’re right. – You said after a couple more seconds.

707: Alright! Shoot those questions!! – "This adorable dork" you thought.

You started with simple questions, like your full name, date and place of birth, your hair, eyes and skin color, the name of the high school you attended, your college degree. He kept answering every single one of your questions correctly and every time he would do that, you wouldn’t know if you should hang up and call 911 because you had clearly gone insane and started imagining phone conversations with fictional characters, or just beamed with happiness and keep laughing at the jokes Seven would make with his answers every now and then.

You: hahaha, how could I do that? You are completely wrong about that!

707: Oh, noooo, really?! I had high hopes for that. –He said and you could almost hear him pouting.

You: haha, you’re so cute, Saeyoung. -You said not able to control yourself. 

707: Why, thank you! But I believe you’re the cutest one in the galaxy, __. I feel that I had been missing out so much, with those generic answers they gave you, I knew you were this fun and kind, and your voice…

You felt your cheeks starting to heat up intensely. It didn’t matter that he told you he loved you about an hour ago, this felt different…real, because you didn’t know what this was, but it was definitely not just a program. 

707: oh…um m-maybe I went too far? I’m…

You: It’s alright, Saeyoung. –You interrupted- Thank you for thinking that about me, I…I obviously can’t still wrap my head around this, but now for the most part I believe that you are not just a program, I can feel it too…

707: Thank you, __. Thank you for trusting me once again.

You: I have so many things to ask you, what would happen if I hang up? Would I be able to talk to you again.

You heard a small silence and suddenly the sound of typing on a keyboard before he replied. 

707: I don’t know that, __. I mean, I’m pretty sure we would be able to talk on the phone again, but what I want you to try is… oh god how should I explain this… so, I have studied about parallel universes in more detail than I did in college since the day I met you, because I felt something was changing. I believe that what the game wanted was for me to find my soulmate so I could escape this universe… I’ve tried since the day you finished my route and I knew that out of all the people that played the game, you were the one I wanted to stay with... 

Um, so since then I had tried many hypothesis but none have worked, as for now I cannot come to your world. But, somehow one night I thought about reversing the algorithms I was using to try and go to your world. After modifying them for a while I seem to finally have got some of them right, because at least I was able to call you this time.

You: I see, keep going.

707: Okay, so in the end I found out that the main reason why I can’t go to your world is because there’s no body host available for me there, BUT on the other hand, you in fact have an available body, which is MC that is just a host program for everyone, is not even similar to the rest of the RFA members is just a host. So I can technically bring you here… to my world…

You: Oh my god.

707: Yes, your god Seven! haha. –He said interrupting your thoughts, but successfully making you laugh.

You: hahaha this is not the time for that. But yes, god Seven did it again. I’m quite impressed, mister.

707: You’re not trying to raise my likeability points, are you?

You: Only if they get stored in your heart rather than a cloud.

707: gaahh you’re so fast, __. But I already knew that lol, so um… what do you say, do you want to try my hypothesis?

You: I want to say yes, but would I ever return to my world, is there any risks of me getting hurt?

Seven sighed deeply and stopped typing before replying.

707: That’s what gets to me, I am not 100% sure that you won’t be hurt in any way. But you would absolutely be able to return to your world…this I know for sure.

You were surprised by hearing your voice almost immediately.

You: What do I have to do?


	2. Chapter 2

11:45pm you had hanged up from the call with Seven about 45 min ago… tick tock… the clock kept ticking in your small apartment, and it was as if every second was louder than the next. You had been pacing in your apartment, being a nervous wreck, remembering over and over the instructions that Luciel had given you over the phone. 

11:50pm you were supposed to be in position exactly at midnight. Should you call anyone? This was just beyond crazy, who would believe you? Could you call a family member or friend and be like “Hey! I know this sounds insane, but I am about to go to a parallel universe to meet a fictional character, can you please contact someone like the FBI or even the X files if I don’t come back? Okay, thank you!!”

11:55 Your hands started sweating, should you eat something before? your stomach kept growling, no, it was too late for that already. Should you leave a note? Yeah, maybe that won’t hurt, because no one would see it unless you would go missing for real.

11:58 Your heart was beating more rapidly in your chest. No, what am I supposed to write on the note? ugh, there is no time for anything else. I should just get in position. 

11:59 you sat down, lotus position in the middle of the living room, phone in your shaky hands. by this point your heart was in your throat. 

12:00 the second after midnight was the longest second you’ve lived in. You stopped breathing and you kept your eyes shot open looking at your phone, the light of it looking back at you. What happened next was a blurry mess. A sound that you could only describe as the one of a huge engine turning on filled your ears, the light of your cellphone became brighter and brighter, and also wider, to the point where your apartment disappeared around you, it was hurting your eyes, “close your eyes,__!” shouted the unmistakable voice of Seven from who knows where. You shot your eyes closed immediately; you felt you were going to fall when you felt the floor under you disappearing. For what seemed like an eternity but it was probably just a fraction of a second, you couldn’t hear, feel or touch anything around you, it was like you were stuck in some kind of limbo. You felt panic growing in your stomach and you were about to scream, you were about to open your eyes contrary to what Luciel had told you. When out of nowhere, the loud sound suddenly stopped, you felt a surface under you again and the light that you could still see through your closed lids had disappear, your chest was going up and down rapidly while you were trying to control your breathing. With one hand you felt the surface under you, it seemed like carpet. 

“__?” said a voice beside you, it sounded loud and clear, not like the one you were used to hear over the phone. You took a deep breath and slowly opened your eyes, the first thing that you saw was a chair and a desk, and there was a computer on it, scattered papers and cables. 

You turned to your right to see where the voice had come from a moment ago, a small whimper left your lips while your eyes widened. There standing, like it was the most normal thing in the world, was Seven, the unmistakable red hair sitting on top of his head, his golden eyes and stripped glasses, his black and yellow hoodie, his headphones were gone, but you remembered seeing them on the desk, the silver cross on his neck, blue jeans and instead of his usual brown shoes, he was wearing Chewbacca slippers. Despite the shock you were in, you couldn’t hold back a chuckle. 

Seven: Hey! Really? The first time you see me and you laugh at my slippers? –He said while a shade of red started forming on his cheeks- I just didn’t had time to change them, I was so anxious about this –he scratched the back of his head- …How are you feeling?

How were you feeling?... Your body felt like it had just run a mile, you instinctively looked at your hands and looked down at the rest of your body, patting yourself everywhere to see if you were “complete”, you sighed feeling relieved, you were and you felt okay… wait? does this mean… you stood quickly and regretted it immediately when you started feeling dizzy,

Seven: Not so fast, __! Please take it easy. –he said while catching you before you fell, you felt his arms, he felt so real, so this wasn’t just a dream right? you weren’t crazy right? you turned around to see him, your faces close, your lids half closed from the dizziness, making his cheeks turn more red than before.- u-um you should sit down for a moment. 

He helped you walk over to the sofa, and that’s when you realized this was Rika’s apartment, it was just like in the game, well, but it was not 2D anymore. You finally sat down on the sofa and Luciel sat beside you. 

Seven: Do you need a glass of water? are you hungry? –He said while looking at you with worried eyes, those shiny golden eyes that you had known for quite some time now. It was funny that even there he was worried about if you needed to eat. After some moments, you managed to speak.

You: I… I need to use the bathroom.

Seven: Of course, it’s right there. –he pointed- please, pleaseee walk carefully, I don’t want you to faint.

-Okay, thank you –you said giving him a small smile before standing up and walking towards there slowly.

You closed the door behind you and went straight to the sink, you looked up at the mirrow, your reflection was exactly the same, you hadn’t turn into the MC from the game, your very own face, hair, eyes and skin were there. You blushed a little, you had just realized that probably for the first time Seven had seen the real you, but again he had probably already seen the real you in pictures before. You couldn’t help to wonder how Seven’s first impression of you was… He had told you that you would be occupying MC’s host body, so you thought you would be looking like her, and more importantly, what had happened to your real body? A cold shiver went down your spine imagining your body lying lifeless in your living room. You tried to shrug off the feeling at least for now and used the restroom; you washed your hands and looked at yourself in the mirror one last time before returning to the living room. 

You heard noises coming from the kitchen so you walked over there trying for some reason to not make any sound. You were met by Luciel’s back turned away from you a couple of feet away at one of the counters, humming slightly, he seemed to be cutting some veggies. You could hear the rice cooker from the other end of the counter. You smiled to yourself, maybe he had really started to eat better. 

You: Thank you, Luciel. –you said carefully not to startle him. He turned, slightly surprised and smiled at you.

-I just figured you would be a little hungry from the trip; it’s not every day I get a guest from another dimension for dinner hehe. –He said with a cheeky grin that made your stomach flutter. Suddenly you thought something.

You: Oh, that’s right…do you know what time it is? -Seven looked at the microwave clock.

Seven: it’s 10:10pm, so 2 hours earlier than your dimension… oh, no… do you have work tomorrow? I forgot to ask you that!! I was just so… -haha don’t worry, Luciel. Tomorrow is Sunday in my dimension. –you chuckled, knowing that even if it was a weekday or if anything else was going on, there was no human or alien force capable of stopping you from this, from being here with him.

You helped him put up the table, noticing how you would keep planning almost every movement that you made, just in case he was glancing or looking at you. Your hands would tremble once in a while. You noticed that he was probably in the same situation, both of you being very awkward. This was all literally out of this world.  
After some minutes of eating in uncomfortable silence you took some air to speak up, Luciel did so too at the same time. 

-You go first, I was just… going to say gibberish. -he said while waving his hand to dismiss himself.

-I’ve always liked your gibberish…haha –you said smiling softly, making him smile too, he was absolutely adorable. –I was just going to ask you…do you know why do I look like myself and not like the game’s MC? is this really her body or my body?

Seven kept chewing his food while thinking carefully about what he was going to answer.

Well –He said after swallowing- what I think happened is that your body is now in some sort of limbo, like the one I believe you were for a moment before arriving here. Am I correct?

\- Yes

\- mkay –He said while chewing on a new piece of food- So, when you arrived here you took MC’s body as a host, I also thought you were going to look like MC, but… I was very happy that turned out to be wrong. –He said shily smiling at you, positively making you blush.

-Tha-thanks. -you said not being able to think of any other anwer- so um, would I be able to return to my world anytime I want.

-Yup, that is pretty much one of the only things I am positive about. But, um after you return to your world, I am not sure if you would be able to come back here again…-His faced turning grimmer. An uncomfortable silence forming between you again.

You dropped your fork after some seconds, suddenly standing up and walking over to Seven, to his surprise you took his hands into yours and made him stand up with you, you looked up at his shocked faced for a moment before crossing your arms behind him, resting them on his back and burying your face in his neck. Luciel’s body stiffened up for a moment before reacting and crossing his arms around you too, embracing you, pressing you to his body in a tight hug. He smelled amazing, just like you imagined he would; a sigh left you, feeling that you wanted to do this since the moment you saw him standing there before you, like you have wanted to do for so long. Small tears started forming on your eyes and rolling down your cheeks, Luciel must have noticed because he placed one of his hands in your hair, caressing it, comforting you.

-I…I am sorry, Saeyoung. It’s just that… I think I am truly in love with you, and I’m scared and I don’t know how to react to all of this… and

-Don’t worry, __. -he said interrupting you, his voice beside your ear, making you shiver, comforting you- I know exactly how you feel, I am very confused by this too, it’s a lot to take in. You broke the hug to look at his eyes, he grabbed your hand guiding you to the sofa. You both sat down and you hugged him once again, resting your head on his chest, your breathing stabilizing gradually.

\- We are going to figure this out slowly, you taught me this in the game. -He whispered. 

\- Saeyoung… – you said feeling a knot of pain in your stomach, you lifted your face up to him- you do realize I had always generic answers right? You mention that in our call, it was not really me.

-That is where you are wrong, __. –He said while surprisingly an smile formed on his lips- at first it was that way, but when I got extremely interested in you after I did that background check, I started to give you special options!

-Special options? –you asked confused and even more so by his now grinning expresion.

-Yes, my earthling! I, 707 defender of justice and hacker god, changed your options. That’s how I got to know more about you! And also…-his face turning serious now- I just knew it,__. I can’t explain it…my heart knew and as I said, I think the game actually wanted me to just… know.


	3. Chapter 3

You didn’t know what to answer, you were just trapped by his mesmerizing golden eyes once more, your heart racing up and your eyes growing wider after realizing he was leaning closer to you, closer… your eyes still opened when his lips finally clashed into yours, thoughts abandoning you when you closed your eyes responding to his kiss, tasting him… sucking his bottom lip you realize it was Dr. Pepper you tasted. The kiss started to pace up and the only sound on the apartment was your combined breathing going faster, he bit one of your lips hard making you whimper, taking advantage of your open mouth to introduce his tongue. Your tongues started to fight inside your mouth, but he was rougher, deeper, sending a tingling sensation to your core. 

Your hands started roaming over his body, pulling at his hoodie, caressing his back, combing his red curly hair with your fingers, playing with it. He started to do the same with you, caressing your shoulders, back and waist over your clothes. Passing one hand under your shirt on one side over your naked waist, finding the exact spot to make you moan into his lips, he used his nails to trail your back slowly and that’s when you broke the kiss arching your back into his embrace. He used this moment to attack your neck, moving from kisses to bites, each time biting harder, and passing one of his hands over your boobs, squeezing them, and playing with your nipples through the fabric. At this point you didn’t care anymore to stop the sounds escaping from your lips. This wasn’t fair; you needed to touch him too, to feel him too. 

You used your weight to push him on the sofa landing on top of him; he wasn’t expecting that, his face was a personal victory. His mouth was parted, lips were a hot pink color and shiny, his hair was messier than usual, his breathing was irregular and cheeks almost as red as his hair. You admired this for a second, before clashing your lips with his once more. Pulling on his hoodie again, he helped you removed it and threw it carelessly to the side, he embraced you grabbing your waist and pressing you against him. You felt waves of electricity when you felt his hard on through his pants. You passed your hands under his red shirt slowly going upwards, caressing his stomach and chest, you felt him shiver under you. He groaned into your lips when you started moving your hips, pressing against him.

Without notice he hold you with both arms and pushed himself upwards making both of you sit down straight on the sofa, resting your back over his chest, before you could say or do anything, he put his lips beside your ear while playing with the waist of your pants.

__... may I? –he said in barely a whisper, his hot breath touching your ear and neck making you shiver.

Yes… -you whispered back. And it was as if he had been restraining himself for so long, he started kissing your ear and neck with more intensity now, while unzipping and sliding his hand under your pants, he started caressing you over your panties, passing a finger through your slit. You moaned and he took your lips into his to muffle it, he passed the hand that he was not using under your shirt and unclasped your bra, he caressed your back sending a delicious feeling through it. He then took one of your naked boobs and started playing with it, taking your already hard nipple between his fingers twisting it.  
Seven then grabbed the waist of your pants and push them down to the floor, you felt the softness of the sofa on your legs. He passed a hand under the elastic of your panties, and your breathing stop in anticipation, a long sigh left you when he started to caress your wet lips and in between with one of his long fingers, up and down, teasing you, purposely avoiding your clit. 

You started to move your hips, eager for more, he stopped at your entrance and started making circles around it, somehow managing to get your clit harder and waiting for touch even more. 

Ahh, Saeyoung please. –You moaned while throwing your head on his shoulder.

I love how you say my name, __... –he said his voice now serious, seductive.

Saeyoung… -you moaned once again. This seemed to convince him because he finally started to caress your wet clit with one of his fingers, going in circles. You whimpered at this, turning to look at him, you wanted to take everything in, his eyes, his smell, the way he looked at you. While still looking directly into your eyes he pushed a finger inside of you, while still playing with your clit using his thumb. You moaned, without dropping his gaze, his and your eyes half opened and your lips parted. You leaned in to kiss him again; it was a messy and rough kiss. You could feel his erection through his pants on your back. 

He started going faster, adding another finger inside of you, hitting you dead on your G-spot, your moans filled the room. You felt you were close, with one hand you grabbed him over his pants, urging him, teasing him. This and the feeling of his other hand twisting your nipple, his hot breaths beside you, it was too much. 

Say my name, __ -He said. His breathing was irregular and his voice somehow hoarse.

Saeyoung, aahh, Saeyoung!! I’m c-com –But you couldn’t finish the sentence, your voice got trapped in your throat and the only sound that could be heard was Saeyoung’s fingers going in and out of your wet pussy. You tensed around his fingers over and over again. After a while he stopped and you collapsed on his chest, he hugged you close to him while you controlled your breathing. You looked up at him; a sweet smile was plastered on his face. You were tempted to smile back, but instead to yours and his surprise a smirk appeared in your lips, making him serious again.

__? –He said looking at you, confused at your devious smirk.

It’s your turn, now. -you said simply.


	4. Chapter 4

He raised one hand and put it on your cheek, the smile returning to his face.

-__, you don’t have to d- .But before he could finish you moved your face to his hand and with your mouth, you took one of his fingers without breaking eye contact. His breathing stopped when you sucked on it from the tip and then slowly went down to the bottom. Where was all this confidence coming from? You asked yourself while you felt your cheeks burning. The fact that you still didn’t quite know what was happening, how did you ended up here in this situation when not so long ago your life was its usual normal and boring. But despite that you couldn’t for the life of you resist how much you were attracted to this man; you wanted to give him pleasure too. 

\- aaaahhh. - was the only sound that escaped from his lips after he got his voice back.

\- I can’t just leave you like this, Seven. –you said while giving him a flirty smile and using one finger to trail his bulge. 

Before he could protest, you lowered yourself using his knees to balance you. Without looking up to see him, you undid his pants, and slowly started to massage his bulge over his boxers. You heard him groan while his erection grew as much as your anticipation while reaching inside. You grabbed his length by the base and took it out of his boxers. You bit your lip at the sight of it, precum had already started to form on the tip, you couldn’t help but to imagine how it would be to feel him inside of you.

You looked up at him, his breathing had already started to pace up again, he was looking down at you with his cheeks seemenly burning, his arms on each of his sides like he was trying not to fall. He looked incredibly cute, you smiled at him making eye contact again, while taking out your tongue and lowering your face, you licked him from the base to the tip while he closed his eyes, a low moan escaping his lips. You closed your eyes too, licking the sensitive tip now, tasting him. After a while you started sucking at the tip, going back and forth going lower each time.  
You played with different paces and grips while his moans and groans become louder: letting you know what felt good. He started playing with your hair while his other hand was combing his own, you felt him panting, close to his release. You picked a steady pace; you felt his dick starting to twitch inside your mouth.

Oh my god, __!!! –He said more like groans that coherent words. Finally you feel it, his thick warm cum filling your mouth, going slowly down your throat. You kept going until you knew he was done. You looked up at him, he was panting, his eyes set on you.

-You are amazing. –He said while pulling you up to him, hugging you. You smile inside his neck.– I love you.

Your back stiffens up; you felt an unpleasant feeling growing on your stomach. He told you that he loved you before on the phone, but this was not the same… this was not… 

You pulled yourself quickly from his embrace and without looking at him, you stand up and start walking towards the kitchen. 

-__, is everything okay? –you heard his confused voice behind you.

-Yes, I just need a glass of water. –you say hoping that you sounded as normal as you intended to. And then you decided to add- do you want some water too?

-I have my always reliable, delicious, nutritious, Doctor Peppeeeeer -He says in that theatrical like way of his. You giggle

-Do you really drink it that much? –You ask while turning back to the living room, glass in hand.

-Of course I do! it’s like my fuel, you know that ma’ lady. Speaking about that… I wanna know your favorite drink too, your hobbies, your favorite books, I couldn’t find those things! Come, come –He says with a cheeky grin while patting the cushion beside him, motioning you to sit down. You giggle and you do just that. 

Time with Seven was relative; you talked about so many things, mostly things about you. He was super curious about everything related to you. He was also much more funny in person if that was even possible, his facial expressions, movements and tones just made each one of his jokes more hilarious than the last one, after a while you felt your stomach hurting and your eyes watering from laughter, Once in a while he would glance at your lips while you were talking, making your heart skip a bit each time. You would think that after what had just happened, the sexual tension would have eased, but if anything it just grew bigger. 

-… so that’s how Harry got the resurrection stone after remembering his first Quidditch match. 

-Damn, __. You are out-nerding me here! Not fair at all. We’ll have to do a geeky trivia someday, wouldn’t that be super fun? I demand the prize to be many kisses, so either way I win mwahahah.

He made you laugh once more, but this time it turned into a yawn at the end.

-Oh, oh someone’s sleepy. Would you like me to escort you to your room, mademoiselle? -He said arching one of his eyebrows, while standing up and motioning with one of his arms. You chuckled at how ridiculous he looked. You decided to play along.

-Why, yes I would, Mister Choi. You’re quite the gentleman. –You said while taking the arm he was offering.

-Thank you, thank you. –the trip wasn’t too long obviously, and you ended up infront of Rika’s bedroom door in seconds. An awkward feeling between you after you let go of his arm.

-So um, goodnight, __! –He said louder than he had probably intended to.– I’ll be in the living room working on my computer, tell me if you need anything.

-O-okay –You said. He seemed to hesitate one moment, but then he leaned in to softly peck you lips. You opened your eyes after and smiled at him–Goodnight, Seven.

You entered the room and closed the door behind you, with a big sigh you threw yourself on the comfy bed. It had been an extremely long day, a mixture of emotions. You stared at the clock on the bedside table, it read 1:30am and it only made you feel even more exhausted. So you closed your eyes and wondered if Seven wasn’t as tired as you were. You drifted into a deep sleep.

You woke up, sitting up abruptly, your heart beating so fast in your chest that it hurt. You looked around and panic started forming in your stomach before you remembered why you weren't in your own room and bed. So it was real, it was not a dream. You turned around to check the time 3:35 am, you had only been asleep for a little over 2 hours, why had you woken up so suddenly? You remembered having a nightmare, there was a weirdly familiar castle in it, but you couldn’t quite remember anything about it. Without thinking too much you stood up from the bed and opened the door of the room slowly, trying to make as less sound as possible.

Luciel was lying down on the sofa, his eyes closed and his computer on sleep resting on his lap. He must have fallen asleep while working. You got closer tip toeing, trying not to wake him up, but he shot one eye open making you jump and stop on your tracks.

-Hey –He said giving you a sleepy smile, his voice kind of hoarse.

-Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you up.

-haha, don’t worry I wasn’t sleeping, I was just resting my eyes.

-You were snoring, Luciel.

-Was I? lol 

-Not really, haha… um –You looked down at the floor. –I just had a nightmare and I wanted to…  
You looked up and he was already standing closer to you, his arms open, your cheeks blushed as you got closer too.

-Hugs always help with nightmares. –He said beside your ear making you shiver- Are you still scared of all of this, __?

You analized your feelings for a moment before answering.

-I am, l think is going to take me a while. –Seven nodded comprehensively in your neck, you were already getting addicted to his embrace it managed to calm you down and made your stomach flutter at the same time. 

-Seven…

-Hmm?

-Can you sleep with me tonight?


	5. Chapter 5

There was some seconds of silence before Luciel grabbed your shoulders softly breaking the hug.

-I can’t, __. I have a lot of work to do still, I’m sorry. I was planning for us to leave to my bunker when the sun rises; I have more stuff there to let me figure things. Right now –He said while turning around and walking to the desk again- I was trying to see if we could leave the apartment safely, because the world outside might be different from yours, I am not sure…

You stood there hearing attentively, was it you or although his voice was normal, his eyes when he was looking at you had changed, they were colder

-I… I understand. –you said trying to fake a smile. Had you been too “daring”? But, you figure it wouldn’t be such a big of a deal to just sleep together after what had happened earlier, but maybe it was…no, this wasn’t about that. He had work to do, he even told you why it was important. He wasn’t just rejecting you. 

He turned his head and gave you a quick smile before staring to type on his computer. Without another word, you went back to your room. 

You buried yourself under the covers again, covering your head for comfort, that had always help you calm down. Rushes of thoughts threaten to fill your head again, but you tried to dismiss them as fast as you could. It was almost 4am already, you really needed to sleep.

 

__, __... –you heard a male voice softly calling your name, it made you smile, eyes still closed. You started feeling your body around you, it was comfy and warm, you felt so tired... -Please wake up.

-mmm –you protested, who did the voice belonged to?

-Come on, sleepy head. We have to go. –you finally opened your eyes, the light of the room blinding you for a moment. You saw Seven beside the bed, he was wearing an all black hoodie and jeans, he looked very handsome… 

You sighed and finally sat up on the bed rubbing your eyes, you felt slightly embarrassed thinking how you probably looked like after just waking up. It was not fair, you could see that his hair was still wet he had just taken a shower. 

-She's aliveeee!!! good morning!!! –he said happily giving you a wide smile- I just made some coffee and there's peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in the kitchen. Please hurry, we need to leave in about...15 minutes. 

You looked quickly at the clock on the bedside table, it was 9am  
-15 minutes? 

-Yes, I wanted to leave earlier, but I realize it doesn’t really make any difference. We need to stop somewhere before heading to the bunker… and I wanted to let you sleep a bit more- He said blushing and lowering his gaze to the floor for a moment- so, um. I’ll leave you to it okay? 

And with that he left the room, leaving you sitting there on the bed with your brain still very sleepy. 

-Wait, but I need to shower…-you finally managed to say, but the door was already closed. You sighed again. "I guess I’m going to shower later, I hope?" you thought

You looked down at yourself and fixed your clothes, then you put on your shoes. With no mirrow in the room, you went outside towards the bathroom. When you opened the door, you heard noises coming from the living room, he was probably finishing packing. You entered the bathroom, it was warm, still steamy and it smelled good. You walked towards the mirrow and with one of your sleeves, you cleaned some of the fog on the mirrow, your tired gaze staring back at you. You looked down and took the hand soap to wash your face the best you could. Then you tried to make your hair look presentable using your fingers and water. You looked back at yourself in the mirrow, for now this was the best you could do. 

You went outside the bathroom after a couple of minutes, and passed the living room which was already empty of any electronics. You walked towards the kitchen and there was Luciel sitting down at the table drinking coffee and fidgeting with his cellphone on the other hand. There was another cup of steaming coffee on the other side of the table and a plate full of PB&J sandwiches in the middle. There were probably 10 of them; you chuckled, turning his attention to you. 

-You made so many –you said pointing at the sandwiches, half true, half just trying to tease him.

-Well, I didn’t know how hungry you would be!! And I loooooveeee PB&J. Also, we might need some for the trip!

-Is it a long trip? –you said while sitting down across from him, grabbing the cup with the delicious elixir. 

-Nah, not really. It’s just 30 min away, but we have to stop somewhere.

-Where are we stopping? –you asked biting on one of the sandwiches.

-It’s a surprise! –He said giving you a playful smile- but I think you will like it. Well, I hope so anyways.

You finished your breakfast as fast as you could. He seemed normal again, no coldness in his eyes this time... 

You were now on the living room, loading yourself with bags to help Seven. 

-Oh my god. Seven, did you fill this bag with stones? –you said while lifting an incredibly heavy one, and you were pretty strong.

-Maybe I did, maybe I didn’t! your god Seven has his own mysterious ways. 

You laughed and rolled your eyes at him, maybe you’ll have to stop saying oh my god around him. After a while you two were carrying an impressive amount of bags on your backs, arms and hands, you started walking behind him towards the door while adjusting one on your right arm. You suddenly bumped into one of his backpacks pushing him torwards the door. A small thud could be heard from his end.

-Ouch!! 

-I’m sorryyyy, I was distracted!

-It’s alright! My ideas got organized. You should try it someday! –His voice muffled from the other end, while probably rubbing his face, but you couldn’t see him behind all the bags. 

-haha, maybe someday. 

-Okay, __... I’m gonna open the door. You are going to be safe, but take it easy and stay calm. This might not look like your world at all.

-O-okay. I’m ready.

-On the count of three. One, two, three…

You heard the cracking of the door opening. And then silence, you could see the light of a lightbulb on the ceiling outside. Seven started walking and you followed him, your shoes now on a different type of carpet. After Seven moved, you saw a door infront of you, and when you turned your head to the right, there was a line of closed doors, the carpet on the floor very hotel like, lightbulbs on the ceiling giving a warm lightning to the hallway. Everything seemed normal. You turned around to your left and saw Seven looking at you, seemingly concerned. Behind him was just a wall, making you realize Rika’s apartment was the last one on the hallway. 

-Are you, okay? –Seven asked

-Um, yeah. This is nothing out of the ordinary.

-Really? –he asked genuinely surprised.

-Well, so far yes, it looks just like a hallway in an ordinary apartment complex.

-Oh, okay. –He said calming down- I just didn’t know… um, so let’s get going, but don’t let your guards down, outside might be really different. 

-Right, okay.

He got in front of you again and started walking towards the elevators at the end of the hallway, you looked around and even if you tried hard you couldn’t find anything out of the ordinary, there were even faint sounds coming from the doors, like people talking, tv or music. Was this really inside of a game? Was this maybe just another real universe like yours? 

You were now going down the elevator, and you kept wondering if you would see another person or… something resembling a person soon. You finally arrived to the basement and with a small “ding" the silver doors of the elevator opened. You were met by an underground parking lot and started walking behind Seven again, you looked around at the cars trying to spot another person with no success. You turned your gaze forward again when Seven stopped and when he moved your eyes grew wider at the sight of a shiny yellow Lamborghini in front of you.

-So, you really have sports cars!

-haha of course, my earthling!! Meet my yellow babe! –he said, while holding his arms theatrically in the direction of the car making you chuckle

-So pretentious... but cool! 

-What?! I am not pretentious, you hurt my feelings!! –He pouted and placed one hand on his heart dramatically.

-Okay, okay. I take that back, stop looking so cute. –you said laughingly.

He grinned at you and opened the tiny trunk. You started putting everything inside and after a couple of minutes you were sitting at the passenger’s seat with Seven beside you.

-Put your seatbelt on my lady, and get ready for the ride of your life. –He said winking at you, making you blush. 

It hadn’t even been half a second after your seatbelt clicked, when Seven stepped on the gas pedal hard and your head went backwards. First gear, second gear, third gear. You could see the light at the end of the parking lot, lights and cars around you passing by fast. The growing sound of the powerful engine in your ears making your heart beat faster and your adrenaline levels go higher. As soon as you reached the light from outside, Seven turned to the right abruptly using the breaks “eeekk” “eeekeeekk”. He did a fast gear shift and stepped on the gas pedal again. First, second, third, the world around you became a blur, you could see buildings, cars and what seemed just like normal people passing around you. fourth, fifth gear. You heart and stomach were fluttering, you couldn’t help but to start laughing, you turned to look at Seven and he started laughing too, you loved that laugh, you had heard it so many times in the game before, but now... you could hear it live and you couldn't get enough of it. Seven pressed a button and both your windows and the top of the car opened, making yours and Seven's hair fly. The air smelled just like the big city it was, like smog and food, you wouldn’t change anything. 

You were starting to wonder if there were even red lights, when you saw one at the beginning of a short tunnel in front of you, but you didn’t see Seven going any slower. Instead he turned to you and gave you a flirty smile before going faster, he was definitely going to pass the red light.

-Seveeeeeeen, nooooo-you shouted while passing under the red light at max speed.

-aaaaahhhhhh

-aaaaahhhhhh

You both shouted to make an echo until the end of tunnel. You couldn't hold back again and you started laughing hard, so did he.


	6. Chapter 6

The rest of the ride, Seven just drove normally and you enjoyed the breeze going through your hair and brushing your face. You kept looking at the buildings, the cars and people, everything seemed pretty normal, it was just a different city. Seven kept asking you to tell him if anything seemed out of the ordinary, but it didn’t matter how much you looked into everything it really didn’t. You knew it was probably time to stop, when a person turned around and looked at you directly in the eyes, probably noticing you were staring so attentively. You felt scared for a moment for some reason and felt relief once the light turned to green and the car started going forward again. 

-Stop stalking people, __. -said Luciel suddenly at your left.

-Hey! –you said hitting him on the shoulder, starting to blush- I’m not stalking anyone…

-You can stalk me instead if you want –he said with a lower voice clearly flirting with you.

-uuhh u-um –was the only sound that came out of your lips, before your blush became a darker red.

-haha! you’re so cute. 

-Stop it! –you said hitting him again, feeling your cheeks burning.

-Okay, okay! We are finally here anyways.

You looked around and then up while Seven parked the car. There was a big building in front of you, but you couldn’t quite tell what it was, it looked like a warehouse of some sort. The parking lot was empty except for you, and the street on the back seemed like a quiet one, not many people or cars passing by.

-We’re not unloading anything from the back now, we’re just going to pick up some things. -said Luciel while closing the windows and the top of the car. You got out of the car and started walking towards the building. After the sound of the car alarm activating, Seven walked past you to the door.

He looked around quickly before taking out what looked like a conventional key out of his hoodie and turned it inside the lock of the metallic door. Then, he seemed to try to look through the door’s eye hole, until you realized it was an iris scanner, you blinked twice in amazement. A soft “cling” was heard from the other side and then he proceeded to push the door open. You both entered and you were greeted by a very dark corridor, you couldn’t see anything after Seven closed the door behind you. You just stood there frozen, until he grabbed your hand and lead the way.

-It’s okay, __ -He said reassuringly, lightly squeezing your hand- please, just trust me.

He suddenly stopped walking and without any warning and without any time for you to react, he lifted you from the ground and placed you on a slippery surface on the floor in front of him, he then pushed you firmly. You started to panic when you felt your body moving forward, you couldn’t control where it was going. 

Suddenly there was no more darkness, your eyes adjusted to the light and you saw that you were going down an open spiral slide, just like the ones in water parks but without the water. And you were going to land on what (as you had imagined) seemed like a really big warehouse, taller than what you have expected. It was full of colors of all kinds, it took your mind a couple of seconds to realize they were clothes. You heard laughing from behind you, making you turn your head to see Seven going down faster than you, and sure enough he ended up just behind you, his arms now around your waist and his legs beside yours. Even if you were mad at him for scaring you this way, you felt a bubble of happiness growing on your stomach. 

You both finally landed on a big cushion on the floor laughing, Luciel stood up and then helped you do the same. While still holding one of your hands he lifted it up and motion it to the warehouse

-Welcome to the agency’s closet, __!

You looked around amazed, clothes from all colors, sizes, types, lengths and accessories like hats, jewelry and even boas were hanging from everywhere, like a very cool thrift shop. 

-Woah… -you said while turning around 360 degrees taking everything in, a very satisfied smile on Seven’s face.

-I’m so glad you like it, I figured you will be needing some clothes for this dimension. And you know what’s the best part? You can grab anything you want, that’s our special sale today, everything is $0.00!

-Me?! –You said looking at him confused- but I’m not a secret agent... wait, can I really be here? –you asked worried.

-Oh, but, you are! You’re agent 606, remember? –He inevitably made you smile and he smiled sweetly back at you- Don’t worry, __. I got this. Let’s just have fun, okay?

-mmm... okay! - you finally said grinning at him, he closed his hand around yours and pulled you towards the depths of the warehouse.

You kept being amazed at all the clothing and accessories around. So this was where Seven got all his outfits for the secret missions, it was pretty impressive. He kept reassuring you that he was an expert and that you should listen to his suggestions, making you chuckle. He made you try more than a couple of things; hats, shirts, boas, dresses, mostly just for fun, but some of the things were genuinely pretty and you noticed that every time you came out of the dressing room, Seven would look at you more and more attentively, making you blush. So while he was busy trying some of the wigs, you decided you wanted to surprise him. You grabbed a very pretty short dress that you saw from the corner of your eye, it was your favorite color and you knew it would look good on you, and the most important part, it had a zipper on the back…

You went inside the dressing room again to put on the dress. You looked at yourself in the mirror and smiled satisfied at your reflection. You opened the door of the dressing room slowly and peeked your head outside; he was now trying on sunglasses. Your heart beating a bit faster when you got out silently.

-Seven…?

He turned to look at you with a pair of sunglasses on. Probably without being able to contain himself, he looked at you up and down, lowering his sunglasses to the bridge of his nose. You clearly saw his Adam’s apple move when he gulped hard. 

-…Yes? 

-Could you please...? -you said while turning around to show him the zip.

-Su-sure… 

He then approached you and you grabbed your hair to one side to keep it out of the way. You felt his long fingers trembling slightly on your back making you shiver. You felt the zipper going up very slowly. Was he doing it on purpose? He finished zipping, and then he moved his mouth closer to whisper in your ear slowly.

-All done, princess. 

You felt light headed. You turned around to look at him, a very different expression on his face. Making you feel hot. 

-So, um. Luciel… do you like this dress? –You said while holding your hands to your sides and bobbing your head to one side, looking directly at him. 

-I think you already know the answer to that. –He said smirking at you, without breaking eye contact. You weren’t expecting that. 

-uum… I

He walked up to you and placed his hands over yours resting on your sides, he got his mouth dangerously close to your lips.

-You look beautiful, you always do. –You could feel his breathing on your lips. You then opened your lips to say something, but Luciel closed the gap between your lips and his, and started kissing you very slowly and passionately. You opened your mouth to greet his tongue that was pressing at your lips; he explored your mouth deepening the kiss more and more. The kiss lasted a long time, but at the same time not enough, you were panting when he finally broke apart. He placed his forehead against yours, your noses touching slightly. 

-__, if you want to tease me, be careful. I might lose control.

Long agonizing seconds passed before you replied.

-…then lose it.

It was as if you clicked something on him. With a quick movement he grabbed your wrists and pinned you to the wall behind you, he closed the distance between your lips again but this time the kiss was rough and demanding, making you moan on his mouth.

With your hands still pinned to the wall, he used one of his legs to separate yours. He then started to press in between them with his knee, your panties being the only thing separating you from it. The sounds leaving you muffled by his mouth and tongue. He then lowered one of his hands, passing it under the tiny dress, the delicious feeling of his cold hand on your naked skin making you shiver. You could feel your desire building up in between your legs. 

You were about to touch him when one of your hands escaped, but he grabbed both of your wrists with one hand and put them behind your back, he parted the kiss and looked into your eyes, the desire on those golden eyes making you feel excited, but almost even scared.  
He moved his lips to kiss your neck, and then he lowered his free hand inside your panties, you moaned loudly throwing your head back when he started making circles on your already wet clit, while at the same time doing circles in your neck with his tongue, making you imagine all sorts of things. 

He kept playing with your pussy for a while, kissing and bitting your neck and ear, working you up to the point where your panties and his hand were drenched in your desire. You felt you were about to come when he stopped… he placed your arms around his neck, and your legs around his waist carrying you, pressing you against him, you felt his hard on making you groan in protest, your insides aching.

He walked a few feet and carefully placed you on top of what felt like a big pile of soft boas, he kissed your lips sweetly before lowering himself in between your legs, he then lowered your panties and threw them away. You felt your cheeks burning when he looked at you so exposed parting your lips with his fingers. He leaned in closer and made eye contact with you the moment his warm tongue ran all the way from your entrance to your clit painfully slowly, making you dizzy.

-Saeyoung… 

He started to pace up, licking and sucking your wet lips, your entrance, your clit, making you moan louder and louder. You felt your orgasm close again, pleasure building up fast on your lower stomach. You grabbed his luscious red hair with one hand and started to mess with it, pulling it, caressing it, pressing him closer to you. He must have known you were close, because he inserted one finger and started hitting your g-spot while lapping and sucking on your clit harder. You were a mess, the world was spinning around you when you finally felt it, a hard orgasm running through your whole body, like electricity. Seven kept licking your clit, adding one more finger and moving them faster inside you, making you ride your orgasm for longer than you thought possible. After a while you felt your body going limp, exhausted you closed your eyes, and felt a pair of strong arms carrying you again.


	7. Chapter 7

When you woke up, you were in Seven’s car again. The only thing that could be heard was the humming of the engine. 

-Hey there, how was your nap? –he said giving you a wide smile. 

-haha, It was very good actually. Where are we? –you asked turning to look outside the window. You weren’t in downtown anymore, you could tell because there weren’t any tall buildings.  
-We are almost at my bunker. 

You arrived to the most normal looking house ever, in the most normal looking neighborhood ever. In fact it was so normal that it almost made you laugh. It was a medium sized beige colored house with a white fence; there was a welcome mat at the door, and a couple of plants outside one of the windows. 

He pressed a button on top of him and the white garage door opened. He stepped on the gas pedal and you went into a normal looking garage, so normal it was suspicious to be honest. He closed the garage door with another button on top of him. You were about to unbuckle your seat belt when Seven stopped you.

-You might want to wait a bit longer for that. –He simply said. You gave him a confused look.

In the form of an answer, he pressed a third button behind the wheel, and for a second you felt your heart in your stomach. The car began descending leaving the garage behind. Your eyes opened wide as you looked around, a well-lighted garage developing in front of your eyes, sports cars lined up. 

-So, this is real too!! –you said amazed.

-It sure is!! –said Seven happily.

At the end of the garage, you spotted a big gate.

-Is that the gate, THE gate?! –you asked now excited

-Yes! haha it is THE gate. –He said winking at you, this guy surely liked to impress you. And you were, but at the end of the day he was still the cutest dork in the universe, and that was probably the main reason why you liked him so much.

You got out of the car after it finally landed on the ground, you were about to go back to help Seven with his bags when he stopped you.

-If you want you can just grab your bag of clothes, most of the stuff in the car is just what I use to work outside from home anyways, let’s leave it here for now. –He said while scratching the back of his head. You nodded and grabbed the bag full of clothes you got from the spy warehouse before…well, before…your stomach fluttered thinking about it. 

You both walked up to the door. And Seven cleared his throat

-الباب مرحبا! هذا هو ضيفي

You looked at him perplexed, was that arabic? 

-Welcome back 707! -Responded the door happily- Hello 707’s guest, Can you please let me scan your palm?

-Su-sure -you responded, lifting one of your hands awkwardly. Then out of one side of the door, a squared scanner the size of a hand materialized, you approached it hesitantly and placed your hand on it. It made you jump when it almost immediately went back inside from where it came from.

-Permission granted. Welcome guest! –Beamed the door. You chuckled; it sure was a friendly door.

The door opened slowly and you curiously caught a glimpse of the inside before stepping in. You looked around once again amazed by everything. It was just like in the game, but it wasn’t just one single photograph, it was there in front of you just like the other places you had seen so far, but this was definitely the coolest one. The walls were painted red with yellow stripes on the base, traffic lights hanged from the ceiling on top of you along with caution signs around it. At your left on top of the stairs, surrounded by glass walls was Seven’s main station, a black chair and grey desk with tree medium sized screens side by side and on top of them a huge screen. In that same glass room, were more computers and screens, some of them running programs and others apparently turned off. The walls were covered with posters of Star Wars, video games like Halo, Call of Duty, The Legend of Zelda etc.

You walked further to the next room, also mostly surrounded by glass walls; it seemed to be the living room. There were 2 grey sofas and an armchair with a black and white squared pattern; they were surrounding another big screen and a brown coffee table. Around the sofas were glass bookshelves mostly filled to the max with books of all kinds, although one of them had figurines and what seemed like robots of different sizes, some of them unfinished(?).That’s when you saw the puppy robot. 

-Oh!! It is even cuter live. –You said while approaching the puppy robot, too hesitant to grab it. 

-You can grab it if you want, it’s yours anyways. I’ve done the necessary changes and it doesn’t spit fire anymore hehe. –Said Luciel that had been mostly standing behind you while you explored the bunker. 

-Thank you. -you said smiling at him, making him blush. Then a thought crossed your mind. –And where’s Meowy? I also remember Meowy!

-Oh, Meowy is around here, you might spot her soon. She might be taking nap a somewhere. 

-That's awesome, I can’t believe all of this is real, Seven. I feel so happy… thank you for choosing me. 

-The-there’s nothing to thank me for. Thank you for trusting me and being here with me. –He said grabbing both of your hands into his and squeezing them. You got lost in his eyes for what seemed like a whole minute or maybe more, again, time was relative when you were with Seven. Your stomach fluttering again, you felt the need to speak, to tell him how you felt about him, how powerful were your feelings for him, but something was stopping you. A pinch of fear got to your heart. What if all of this was fake? Or if it was real, how could both of you even make this multi-dimensional relationship work? It was not like you could just google other people experiences, this was honestly kind of insane. 

You broke away from his gaze, before he could see in your eyes the shift in mood. But he probably saw it anyways, because instead of asking you anything he let go of your hands gently and picked up the bag of clothes from the floor.

-Well, let me show you your room! Follow me! –And before you could look at his face he turned around and started walking, so you followed him.

You arrived at a grey metallic door, just like all others you had seen at the other side. The door was left from the living room and right from the computer room. He opened it and a fresh just-cleaned scent came from inside. The room was painted a simple white and there was a queen sized bed with blue covers and pillows. There was a bedside table with an alarm clock and a lamp. There was also a small screen in front of the bed and a closet beside it. There was no window and that was pretty much it, a comfy guest room, which probably Luciel had just improvised.

-So, this is it. The bathroom is on the hallway across from the living room, beside the kitchen. At the end of that hallway is my bedroom. If you need anything I’ll be there, although mostly I am in the computer room. –He said smiling at you.

-Thank you so so much, Seven. I feel so welcomed.-you said

-And you are, __! –He said his smile wider. -So, I’ll leave you to settle.

He walked to the door.

-Oh, and you can grab anything you want from the kitchen. –He winked at you before closing the door.

-Okay, Thanks! –you replied.

You placed the bag on the bed and sat beside it going through the contents. You finally found what you wanted to wear and went outside carrying it across the living room to the bathroom. Seven was nowhere around. You closed the door behind you and turned on the shower adjusting the temperature.


	8. Chapter 8

You took off your clothes and opened the glass door getting inside. The water was the perfect temperature and it felt so good on your skin, relaxing your tired muscles. You opened a shampoo bottle that was on a shelf and started washing your hair, fog started to form on the glass doors. You looked for soap, there was a vanilla scented soap on the shelf and you started washing your body with it. Both the shampoo and the soap smelled just like Luciel, it was kind of intoxicating; heat started forming in your cheeks. Maybe you could get your own bathroom stuff later. You were lost in your thoughts when a small thud interrupted you, next was the unmistakable crack of the door opening, you froze. Through the fog you could see Seven’s figure and his red hair.

-Saeyoung?

-__?...Oh my god! I’m sorry, I didn’t know you where here! –You blurrily saw him turning around hurriedly and closing the door.

You blinked twice and then couldn’t contain a chuckle, what was up with this boy? One moment he was so flirty and forward and the other he was shy and awkward. 

You finished showering and opened the glass door, you laughed to yourself when you saw a toothbrush on the floor, it must have been Luciel that dropped it after seeing you. You threw your dirty clothes in a dirty laundry basket. You were about to put on your clean clothes when you realized something; you had not grabbed underwear. You almost wanted to slap yourself, when a rush similar to the one in the warehouse got to you. You knew you could just put on this clothes and then underwear later in your room, but… 

You got out of the bathroom and started walking across to your room, using the corner of your eyes trying to spot Seven. You finally saw him; he was sitting at one of the grey sofas in the living room, a small red gaming device on his hands. He lifted his face and jumped slightly when you passed, a pink blush on his cheeks. 

-__! so-sorry about just now. I didn’t know you were there hahaha. –He nervously laughed and scratched his head. 

-Don’t worry about it –You said. His eyes lowered to your body, seemingly realizing just then that you were wrapped only in a towel. He visibly stiffened. -Oh, sorry…I just forgot my underwear in the room. –You said trying to sound as casual as possible. 

-Oh! uumm…that’s fine! I mean not fine, but um you know hahaha, it happens to all of us!- he said nervously laughing again. You bit your lip to suppress a laugh and just gave him a smile instead. You kept walking and felt his eyes behind you. As soon as you closed your room's door, you heard Seven swearing under his breath. You muffled your laughing with your hand.

After finally getting dressed, you got out of the room. There was still many questions you wanted to ask Luciel, so you went back to the living room, but he was not there anymore, he wasn’t in the computer room or the kitchen either. Music could be heard from the end of the hallway, he had told you his room was there. You walked closer to the half opened door and peeked inside; Seven was lying on a bed with black covers and pillows with a black and white squared pattern. He had his arms behind his head and his eyes were closed concentrated in the music. Piled up in a corner were empty cans and bags of Dr. Pepper and Honey Buddha Chips, the walls, just like the computer room were covered in posters and some drawings, you stopped to see the cutest drawing of a white cat with medium hair and blue eyes, that’s when you realized it was Elizabeth the third.

-Did you make this, Seven? –You said loud enough for your voice to be heard over the music. Seven opened his eyes and quickly pushed himself up to sit straight on the bed.

-Oh, hey __, I um…I did actually. 

-It’s very cute, I didn’t know you draw.

-Thanks! I took a class in college. It had nothing to do with my major, but it was just a relaxing hobby hehe.

-Well, you’re very good. –You said while turning to see the other drawings. You stopped at another drawing, it was a pair of twins sitting back to back, you immediately knew who they were.

-Are these…? –you started but Saeyoung answered before you could finish.

-Yes, Saeran and I… -There was a tense shift in his voice. You turned around and saw that he was now staring at the floor, like something very interesting that you couldn’t see was there. You sat silently beside him.

-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…

-Don’t worry. I…I should be able to answer the questions I know you have right now. –He was reading your mind again.

-Okay… so, first of all…how did you notice that the other ones were programs and that you were real? 

-Well, it wasn’t easy. I’ve been in this game/dimension for as long as I can remember, to the point where I don’t know when I arrived here. I sometimes remember things from I guess “my real life”. But they are just glimpses, like the city where I used to live, my family… but it doesn’t matter how hard I try, I can’t remember things like my mom’s or my dad’s face. So far, I know that the story that was portrayed in the game is my real life’s story… but for a long time now, it’s like I’m just able to remember a summary of it, I can’t remember details. 

I also just…know that I am not supposed to be here. Jumin, Jaehee, Vanderwood, Zen and Yoosung act like I’m crazy everytime I bring it up, they seem very happy here, and they don't notice how repetitive their actions are everytime someone restarts the game. So I was about to give up, but then, I was finally able to contact you and now you are here…the restarts seemed to stop after I chose you –He lifted up his head and smiled at you, an expression of both relief and still some of disbelief on his face. You returned his smile sweetly.

-And what happened after the secret endings? What happened with MC?

-After the secret endings, and after we took that group photo at my house. MC got up from the sofa, went into a closet and shut herself down, preventing myself to communicate with you through her anymore. I tried everything to make MC program run again, but she just sat on the floor like a ragdoll.

You felt a cold shiver running down your spine before speaking up again.

-Did you…did you tell anyone that happened? Did you show them?

-Nobody listened to me, not then, not after. 

-Oh…

Silence.

-Wait. –You said suddenly noticing something- You mentioned basically everyone in the story except for V, Rika and Saeran.

-Well, I tried to talk to V once. He also thought I had gone crazy, but he was willing to hear me further than everyone else, he said that as soon as we were done with the whole hacker and the bomb situation we would be able to talk about it, but then the stuff with Rika happened and you know that he, he…-You closed one of your hands around his, giving him an understanding smile. He welcomed your hand and squeezed it gently.

-And Saeran…-he tried to continue, but his voice trailed off again. He looked so vulnerable in that moment; it was nowhere near seeing him like this through a screen than in person. It made your heart ache, maybe he was not ready to talk about Saeran yet. 

You pulled him in and closed your arms around his back, embracing him. He welcomed your hug and squeezed you tight, your face side by side, your cheeks touching.

-You don’t have to talk about it right now, Saeyoung.

-Thank you, __-he said putting his hands on your cheeks gently, now looking into your eyes-You must really be an angel.

Your cheeks started burning; he was doing that to you so often. You stared into his eyes, and your faces started getting closer. He closed the gap and gave you the sweetest kiss you’ve ever felt in your life, he tasted like honey and salt, it made you smile knowing where that taste came from. He parted his lips briefly from yours, but you wanted to taste him more, so you closed the gap again.

Soon, you didn’t know how much time had pass, you were both now lying on his bed, side by side. Your kisses started sweet and slow, but then they paced up, and you were getting dizzy. Everything about Seven was intoxicating; his smile, his laugh, his voice, his lips, his touch…  
He embraced you and rolled you over, he was now on top of you placing small kisses on your neck, while caressing your sides under your shirt. You shivered under his touch, while pulling at his shirt and involuntarily you started pushing your hips up to feel him closer. He groaned when he felt the contact. He started pushing his hips to yours, a cute little sound leaving your lips when you felt his hard on over your clothes. This seemed to encourage him more, because he started biting your neck, caressing your boobs under your bra, pinching your nipples. 

After a while, you couldn’t take it anymore. You undressed each other between messy, passionate kisses, both of you now only wearing underwear. He started grinding his hips to yours once again, now just two thin pieces of fabric separating you, you felt that your panties were already soaked. He started playing with the hem of them, caressing your hips while looking deeply into your eyes, completely disarming you, trying to read you. You nodded and that was all he needed, he pulled your underwear down, while you did the same with his boxers. He removed your bra; the last piece of clothing. He then lowered his gaze at your body, admiring it, making you blush intensely.

-You are so beautiful, __. –He said almost in a whisper, your name leaving his lips like a prayer, your heart fluttered.

He caressed your hips one last time, before grabbing them to position himself. He leaned his face down close to yours. Both half-lidded eyes looking back at each other when he pushed into you, a moan leaving both of you.

He started slow, pacing up with each trust, your moans becoming louder. He put a hand on your back and leaned down to kiss your boobs and suck your nipples. You started playing with his hair and lowered a hand to his back, running your nails along it, scratching him lightly. He groaned and his pace became harder and faster, and then as if to torture you, he grabbed your hips and started going in and out of you slowly but harder. He position a hand on the small of your back to align yourself to him, you opened your eyes wide when you felt him hitting your g-spot with every hard thrust, making it almost unberable.

Both of yours and Seven’s moanings filling the room, the temperature in it getting hotter. The only other sound that could be heard was the slapping of skin against skin when he started going faster. You didn’t know how much longer you could take this. He started gripping your hips tighter, almost painfully. He’s thrusts now becoming sloppier and deeper. You felt your orgasm closer, your pussy tighten around him when he made that final deep and hard thrust that sent you to heaven. 

He felt you coming, squeezing him over and over inside of you. Small drops of sweat forming in Luciel’s forehead, he’s eyes shut down when he threw his head back and came almost immediately after you, spilling himself inside of you. Despite of this he kept going, making both your orgasms last longer. He was still incredibly hard inside of you when he moaned your name one last time before collapsing on top of you, you hold him to your chest, both of you panting.


	9. Chapter 9

You were now hanging out in the kitchen making dinner together. Seven was shirtless and had sweatpants on that hanged low on his hips, making it hard for you to concentrate on cutting veggies. Seven had pasta boiling and was throwing in a bunch of different spices that you weren’t even sure he knew how they tasted, specially together so you started giggling. He saw you from the corner of his eyes.

-Aha!! I caught you, now you’re gonna pay for making fun of me. –He said while he walked to stand behind you and started tickling you, making you giggle even more.

-Seveeeen!!...stop iiiiiit!!... –you said in between laughs.

-Okay, okay. I’ll stop if you give me the kiss of peace. –He said, while he closed his arms over your stomach. 

-The kiss of peace, huh? –You said turning your face to the side, meeting his. He leaned in and pecked your lips.

-hmmm…okay! Let peace reign between this two nations again! –He beamed before running immediately back to his boiling pasta, because now water was spilling from the sides. 

It was late in the afternoon and you were getting a bit cold by only wearing Seven’s red shirt, so while he started to sauté the veggies, you went back to your room and grabbed a pair of shorts and a very long comfy cardigan. 

You were going back to the kitchen looking at the floor trying to spot Meowy, when you saw a pair of extremely well-polished leopard print shoes. You slowly began to bring your gaze upwards, you saw black pants, a brown belt, a leopard print/black/purple-ish cape, arms crossed and hands covered in black gloves, a purple shirt, and last but not least a medium length light brown hair framing a stern face.

-Are you done looking? –They said.

-I'm sorry. A...are you M-Mary Vanderwood? –You asked, incapable of believing your eyes.

-Yeah, and I assume you are 707’s –They scanned you up and down stopping for a second at Seven’s shirt- friend.

You blushed.

-Um, yes. 

-Well...where is he? I need to talk to him.

-He’s in the kitchen. -You said shyly pointing.

-I know where the kitchen is, lady –They scoffed- I have cleaned that place more times than I can count, and all this place for that matter, ugh. –They said turning around, making the cape move dramatically and walking towards the kitchen. 

You lifted your foot to follow, but as soon as you were going to take the first step, you felt a cold non-flat form below you.

-Noooo!! don’t step on Meowy, Meowy was just passing by.

You looked down to see where the cute voice was coming from, and sure enough Meowy was there in all her cuteness. Her bright blue eyes looking up at you.

-I’m sorry, Meowy!! I didn’t see you there!! –You said now sitting on the floor to see her better. 

-Oh, Hello, __!! There’s no need to be sorry! Meowy is very happy to finally meet __. God Seven told Meowy eeeverything about __.

You covered your mouth with both hands, both in amazement and to muffle your “dying of cuteness” whimper.

-Really? Like what? –You asked. 

-God Seven told Meowy that __ was a kind and awesome person. And that she was THE ONE. Is a very important mission for Meowy to protect __ and keep her happy!  
-Well, you’re doing an awesome job already, Meowy. –You giggled.

-Thank you! –She replied happily.

You stood up and started walking to the kitchen again being careful about Meowy this time, she followed behind you. The angry voice of Vanderwood coming from the kitchen.

-This again, 707!? –They said

-She is here, Vanderwood! You can’t deny her existence now!

-Look, –Vanderwood said placing two fingers on the bridge of their nose while closing their eyes. –I don’t know who this lady is, and frankly I don’t care. But, she is NOT from another dimension; you need to cut that shit out, 707. 

-But-

-Don’t –They said placing a hand in front of Seven’s face as to warn him. –I thought you were going to settle with that brown haired girl with the beige sweater, but then you invented that crazy story about her being a program and I honestly didn’t know if you had finally lost it, but now I see you have a new girl…That’s none of my business of course, but we agreed to keep working together after what happened with the previous agency, and although this new agency is way nicer and low danger, we need to work more to earn the money we were with the previous one. You have to meet a deadline here and…

Vanderwood seemed to just notice you were there and stopped talking raising an eyebrow your way.

-We were having a private conversation here…-Vanderwood said.

-I’m s-sorry, I –You began, but Luciel interrupted.

-No, she can be here. –He said firmly.

-Fine. But finish the fucking work, okay?! The deadline is today at-

-At midnight. I know, I know. –Seven interrupted again sighing- I…was just b-busy today. -He blushed.

-Clearly –Vanderwood replied looking at the both of you- I’m gonna go home, you better have that by midnight. 

-Yeah, Yeah…-replied Seven

Vanderwood turned and stormed out of the kitchen without looking at you. You heard them swearing at the door to open and then the door closing after them.

-Sorry about that…-said Luciel, turning his gaze to the floor

-Don’t worry about it –You said- I’m actually more worried about you, I didn’t know the whole pressure for work was still going on. 

-Yeah, as Vanderwood mentioned is a way more low-danger agency this time, but I have to work more sometimes…

-Wait, have you slept at all since your nap at Rika’s apartment?

-mmm…yeah? –Seven answered avoiding your eyes.

-Saeyoung…

-Ugh, you know I can’t resist when you use my name –He sighed- Fine, I’ll take another nap and then I’ll finish that job…but the food.

-Don’t worry, I’ll finish it while you nap and then you can eat while working. –You said winking at him.

-Thank you, princess. –He said walking up to you and kissing your cheek.

 

You finished cooking and sat down by yourself to eat on the table. You were feeling a bit lonely, when suddenly Meowy climbed the table and sat infront of you. 

-Oh, Hello Meowy.-You said smiling at her

-Hello, __! Meowy detected loneliness, so she came to make you company.

-That’s so sweet of you, Meowy. Thank you.

-You’re welcome! Would you like to hear some jokes?

-Aw, maybe not right now, Meowy. But...how about you tell me about you?!

-About me? 

-Yes! I’ve never met a robot before. 

-Well, Meowy was created by God Seven almighty, it was almost a myth. The day was sunny and God Seven’s power could be felt in the air, and then…

-Haha, Okay maybe that was a bad idea. 

-Whyy??! I love that story. –You suddenly heard Seven say behind you, you turned around to look at his sleepy face, his hair was still messy and he was putting a green shirt on. 

-Wait, that was less than an hour, Luciel…-You told him worriedly

-Yeah, but I really need to finish that. It’s already 8pm. –He said stopping a second to stare at your face and suddenly smiling- You should look at your face right now, you look so cute when you are worried. But you don’t have to, my Dr. Pepper and Honey Buddha Chips make me invincible!!! 

You chuckled –Okay, okay. But at least grab a plate of actual food.

-Okie-Dokie! It smells good!! Thank you again, __. –He said directing a loving gaze at you. And with that he left to the kitchen.

You guessed you should probably do something to kill time while he was working, you were actually thinking about exploring the world outside more…


	10. Chapter 10

After assuring Seven a hundred and one times that you would be careful and promising you would take Meowy and even a taser with you, he half convincingly let you go to explore the world outside more.

-Don’t hesitate to use the taser if you feel threaten in any way, it will send me an alert right away if you use it and I’ll be there in a heartbeat!

-Seven, stop worrying. I’ll be fineeee –You said smiling at him, while passing your bag over your shoulder.

-Okay…and don’t forget Meowy!!- He said picking her from the floor and walking up to you to hand her over. You took her and dedicated a sweet smile to him. 

-I’ll be fine, Saeyoung…seriously. –You whispered to calm him down and pecked him on the lips- and your blue baby too! Unlike Jumin, I am a good driver. –You said finally walking to the gate. 

-You better mean that, young lady!!! –He said mocking Jumin’s voice and tone.

-Okay, dad!! –You answered while the gate was closing. 

You were standing again in the silence of the garage, the sports cars lined up in front of you. You walked up to the blue with white stripes Ford Shelby GT350 that Seven had let you take, saying it was the one with more safety features like bulletproof windows. Which you obviously wouldn’t need to get a bubble tea from the shop you saw while on your way. 

You entered the car and placed Meowy and your bag on the passenger’s seat, you adjusted your seat, mirrors and fastened your seatbelt. You took a deep breath and turned the key in the ignition, the powerful engine turned on and butterflies started forming in your stomach, this was going to be fun.

You stepped on the gas pedal slowly and noticed you had to barely touch it for it to go forward. You placed the car on the circle at the end of the garage and pressed the button behind the wheel that Luciel had told you about. The car immediately started going up.

You finally arrived to downtown; the nightlife looked so vibrant with all the lights, music and people, some were already lining up outside of restaurants, movie theaters and bars. You opened the windows and took in the delicious smells of food from the street vendors. In that moment you missed Seven and you wished he was there with you, you could be quick and bring him back a bubble tea and something from the food stands. 

Like any big city, it took you forever to find a parking spot, but you finally did and turned off the ignition, you turned to see Meowy.

-Say Meowy, do you want to ride on my shoulder? 

-Ah! That would be super fun!!- She smiled, climbed your arm and sat on your shoulder. 

-Oh, wait. Would it look weird if I have a robot on my shoulder?

-Of course not! This is tech-savvy Seoul!! People already have robots and other awesome technology devices going around with them, although Meowy is the coolest one of all, of course.–She said winking at you. You giggled and smiled at her.

You activated the car alarm and started walking a couple of blocks to the bubble tea shop, there was a sign on top of it that read “Gong Cha Bubble Tea”. When you entered, more than a couple of people turned to look at you and stared more than a couple of seconds before returning to what they were doing or who they were talking to, it made you uncomfortable but you brushed it off thinking that maybe they had found an interest in Meowy on your shoulder. 

After looking at the menu, you finally picked Taro for yourself and Honey tea for Seven, you smiled figuring he would like that. You approached the lady at the counter, she didn’t say anything.

-Hello –you said giving her a polite smile- can I get 2 medium bubble teas, please? 

She didn’t answer; she just kept staring absently at you. 

-Um…hello? 

-Hello!! –she beamed suddenly making you jump- 2 medium bubble teas, which flavor would you like?

-Um, Taro and Honey tea, please.

She again took a while to respond.

-Of course!! That would be 9500 won –She answered, you looked in your bag and handed her the money. You couldn’t help but notice how her movements were very stiff, maybe she had an illness, so you decided it was rude to stare and moved your gaze to another place.

-Here’s your change, it will be ready in a couple of minutes!! –She said handing you the money in the same stiff slightly robotic way. You took a seat near the counter and regretted not having a cellphone to calm your nerves.

-Meowy detects anxiety, Meowy wants to remind __ that she is not alone! –She said, rubbing her face to your cheek just like cats do easing you immediately, but you felt kind of guilty about briefly forgetting about her.

-It’s true, thank you, Meowy!! So…what should we pick for Seven from the street vendors? What does he like?

-mmm…-She thought- Meowy has only seen God Seven eating Honey Buddha Chips and drinking Dr. Pepper, but…once or twice Meowy has seen him eating instant ramen or frozen meals.

You sighed. 

-Guess we’ll have to pick something very good so he eats it. –You said and Meowy nodded.

-Two medium Taro and Honey tea?! –said a male voice out loud from the counter. 

-That’s us! –You said standing up. You grabbed the drinks and looked up to the guy. –Thank you. 

He gave you a wide smile, but his eyes were emotionless giving you the creeps. You turned around quickly and started walking to the door. You felt like someone was staring at you again, you looked back from your shoulder, and this time everyone in the shop was looking directly at you, shamelessly. Some of them smiling, some of them serious, a cold shiver went down your spine and fear started forming on your stomach.

-Meowy detects fear. Are you okay, __? 

-N-no. Let’s get out of here, Meowy. –You whispered to her, and rushed to the door. 

As soon as you got outside, you kept walking fast without looking back. You felt the rush of wind making your cheeks cold, your hands started aching a little from holding the cold drinks.  
You were about to arrive to the car going through a sea of people that were now crowding the streets. You finally got there and placed the drinks on top of the car to look for the keys inside of your bag when…

-Hello...u-um excuse me, miss? –You didn’t turn around at first because you didn’t think they were talking to you. But you heard them clearing their voice and speaking louder. –Miss?

You turned and your eyes opened wide, you blinked twice. A blonde haired, skinny and medium height guy was shyly looking at you with big lilac eyes, he had two black pins on one side of his hair and he was wearing a light blue hoodie with a green LOLOL pin.

-S-Sorry, I didn’t mean to disturb you. Is just that you look very familiar…is more like you seem very familiar…um, do we know each other? –He said and in that moment you knew there was no doubt.

-Yoosung?! –You said, your eyes still wide from the impression.

-Oh! So we do know each other! I was starting to feel very embarrassed haha. I just wasn’t really sure, but um…I’m sorry, from where do we know each other? –He said scratching his head, giving you a cute smile.

-I um…um –You said not being able to explain or even think how to start.

-No worries! I guess we both forgot, I don’t feel as bad now...hehe –He seemed to suddenly get distracted by looking at something over your shoulder, but actually it was more on it.

-Oh my god. –He said looking at the robot. –Meowy?! 

-Hello, Yoosung! –She beamed 

-Wh-what are you doing here?- He’s amazement just grew bigger when he looked behind you and saw the blue sports cars. 

-Tha-that’s Seven’s car! Who…Who are you? –He said very confused now.

-I…I –Your tongue was still tied. He brought both his hands to his mouth and gasped. “He got it” you thought.

-OMG!!! You stole from my friend!! How is that possible?! I am… I am going to call the police!! –He said. “No he didn’t” you thought and deeply sighed.

-Yoosung, it’s me…! -You started. But he had already took his yellow flip phone from his pocket. 

-Yoosung! Pleasee –you said waving at him, because he was nervously avoiding eye contact with you now. 

-Yoosung! Call Seven first, please!! –You implored him using your hands. He looked at you a couple of seconds thinking. 

-Okay! Only because I don’t know why you know my name, but if…! –He started but you interrupted.

-Yes, but if something’s wrong you’ll call the police. Please…I’ll stay right here. –You said and he hanged up and sighed, he started pressed buttons on his phone again.

-Hello, Seven? –He said almost eyeing you– The-there’s this lady in front of me here in downtown, and she has Meowy!! and I’m pretty sure she got here in one of your cars!! And, and if you want me to call the police just, just tell me and I will!! –He said, his voice rushing faster from one word to the other.

-And I’ll even retain her here until they arrive!! and…!! Oh, –He said suddenly stopping- what? …Oh my god…–His eyes going wider. You smiled at him.

-No! Of course I didn’t know, How was I supposed to?! I don’t even believe that in the first place…but um, she does seem very familiar, it’s more like she feels very familiar…-He said looking at you again- Okay, s-sure!

And with that he hanged up and looked at you now with wide and apologetic eyes.

-I am SO sorry!!! –He started saying with imploring eyes- I just…!

-Don’t worry, Yoosung! –You said giggling before he continued-…Seriously, this only means that you are a good friend. –You smiled and he looked at you with thankful eyes.

-Thank you!! That is so nice of you…-He sighed and blushed- And that was very rude of me…um can I make it up to you in some way? Also…Seven suggested that I go back to the bunker with you so he could explain everything…is that okay?

-Of course! –You said happily- I actually wanted to go get some food before we go back, I’ll just leave the bubbles teas inside the car.

-Oh, okay! –He said and waited for you. You turned and gave him a wide smile

-Alright, Let’s go!


	11. Chapter 11

You were both walking side by side in a sea of people. Yoosung had his hands inside of his pockets and you were just holding your bag. Both of you looking at the floor. Out of the corner of your eye, you saw him looking at you from the corner of his eyes as well. When he saw you noticing, he blushed and looked at the floor again. 

-So…miss, I didn’t catch your name…I guess I could call you MC…but I’m not sure. -Said Yoosung after a couple of minutes.

-haha, you don’t need to be so formal, Yoosung. My name is __-You said turning and giving him a soft smile. 

-__, That’s a pretty name- He said giving you a wider smile.

-Thank you! -You said giving him a wide smile as well, before you both quickly turned to look at the floor again.

-__, I…I have to ask. Are you really from another dimension? It is…just so hard to believe. Especially because Seven keeps pranking us all, like…all the time!

You couldn’t help but laugh out loud. It was true after all, Seven was the biggest prankster and…also you couldn’t blame Yoosung. You also thought you were going crazy at first.

-I completely understand, Yoosung –You started calmly, giving him a comprehensive look- If someone would tell me last week that I would be meeting people from another dimension, I would feel exactly like you, but…as crazy as it sounds it is true, I am indeed from another dimension. I have no other way to prove this than my word and Seven’s…

-It is true, Yoosung! Meowy was there! MC’s programmed body was just lying there, and then she slowly turned into __! Her features change in front of Meowy’s eyes! –Beamed Meowy

-Oh…but, Meowy you were programmed by Seven...–said Yoosung, making you feel a pinch of sadness on your chest. 

He must have seen your expression change, because he immediately added

-I am sorry, __! I didn’t mean to make you feel bad…actually since the whole situation about Mint Eye and Saeran, etc. I haven’t seen MC…Seven mentioned a couple of times she was a program that had turned off, but we just assumed they had broken up and it was Seven’s way of telling us and dealing with it. But, I do feel this…attraction to you…and I cannot explain why.

He looked at the sky, both in contemplation and apparently trying to hide his now blushed cheeks. You had imagined something like this would happen.

-That was actually why I approached you, I just felt like I KNEW you. And actually I wasn’t even planning on coming here tonight, I was just going to stay home playing LOLOL, but this place is close to my home and I just felt the need to come here as soon as possible. It even surprised me how fast I grabbed my bag and got out! I just started walking fast like I knew where I had to be and that’s when I saw you…-He blushed again 

–I’m sorry, __. This must be really weird for you too. –He added turning again to you worried.

You started laughing and his eyes grew wider in slight confusion.

-Don’t worry, Yoosung. You’re not being rude or anything like that, and please stop apologizing so much…and as I said I completely understand you. Maybe together we will be able to resolve this mystery back at the bunker, but right now…how about we get some food, huh? –You said giving him a wide smile, which he returned and then nodded.

 

You arrived to a narrow street, packed with people and vendors lined up on both sides. The smells, colors, lights and sounds, making you both excited and hungry.

You stopped at a stand to get some Mandu, which were dumpling-like fried snacks filled with all sorts of savory things. You then went 3 stands down to buy red bean cakes in the shape of fish, which you happened to know were Saeyoung’s favorites, "especially the stomach" you thought laughing to yourself. 

Yoosung ended up buying some Mayak Kimbaps with soy-mustard sauce and a pack of Korean’s famous 1,600 strings honey candy. The vendors had this very entertaining shows while making them. They started with a circle of hard honey and corn starch and before your eyes it would transform to hundreds of strings in less than two minutes, it was very fun to watch.

With enough food to feed an army, you headed back to the car passing through the noisy streets. You got in and put everything on the backseat, then turned to look at both sides before going forward onto the busy street. When suddenly out of thin air, you spotted a black car approaching you dangerously fast making you step hard on the brake, sending your head forward. When you lifted your gaze again, the car was nowhere to be seen. You looked everywhere, but the car had just disappear as fast as it had appeared.

-D-did you see that? –You asked turning at Yoosung, that had quickly put a hand over the food to prevent it from spilling.

-I did! What was that? It just disappeared! –He said as surprised as you were. 

-It really did! I have no idea. That was so weird…

You looked again everywhere more than twice, before stepping on the gas again. 

 

The rest of the ride was kind of silent, with Yoosung and you trying to make small talk. But you were horrible at it; it just made you more anxious. You couldn’t wait to go back to Seven. You finally arrived to the bunker with Yoosung seemingly being very familiar on how the entrance worked and everything.

You approached the gate carrying all the food and with Meowy still on your shoulder. 

-Hello, gate! We are back. –You said smiling at it.

-Welcome back, __! Hello there, Yoosung. You know the drill!

-Really??!! Can’t I just start going in with sometime like a palm or eye scan? –Said Yoosung visibly annoyed. 

-Nope! –responded the door happily- You know I’m even being nice by not making you say it in arabic.

-Ugh, fine! –Said Yoosung blushing annoyed- I, Yoosung Kim recognize God Seven as the master of everything. 

You chuckled loud, making Yoosung sigh. 

-Permission granted! Welcome. –Beamed the door and opened itself. 

You entered and went straight to the kitchen to place everything on the counters; you left Meowy and your bag on a chair, and walked over to the computer room while Yoosung was helping himself to a glass of water. 

Seven was sitting at his computer chair, with his orange headphones on, deeply concentrated on one of his screens. You approached him from the back and placed your hands on his shoulders giving him a quick massage. He lowered his headphones and arched his back to look at you. His eyes looked a bit red and tired behind his yellow stripped glassed. 

-Hello, gorgeous- He said giving you a tired but genuine smile.

-Hello- You said lowering your lips to give him a small peck on his forehead.

-How was your adventure? –He asked turning his chair around and placing his hands on the small of your back, almost looking straightly at your eyes because of how tall he was. 

-It was very fun! and interesting…-You said now thoughtful.

-Why? Did something else happened besides the Yoosung “incident”? –He said with a chuckle.

-haha, well…

-Come, let’s go to the living room. –He said standing up- I’m done with the agency’s work, I was just checking other stuff…

You were all now sitting down at the living room, with you first telling what happened at the bubble tea shop, making Seven frown. And then taking turns with Yoosung to tell Luciel about everything else that happened. Seven didn’t lose the change of teasing Yoosung about the whole “you stole from my friend” incident, but then the frown returned to his face when you both told him about the black car. 

-Mmm…-He said now deep in thought while you remained quiet- I am not sure, but I think there’s two possibilities about that car, it could have been Cheritz full intention to do that or just a game glitch.

-Game glitch? Cheritz? Seven, do you really believe all that? I honestly still think that you are joking –said Yoosung.

-I am NOT joking. –Answered Luciel giving him a face that left no place for doubts

-And, I think I have proof now. –He added turning to look at you smiling. 

-Yeah, I...as I said, I just feel this um…um –started Yoosung but couldn’t continue.

-Attraction to __? –asked Seven calmly.

-Y-yes –said Yoosung blushing and avoiding eye contact- and I cannot explain it, I just felt that I needed to approach her.

-Yes…-said Luciel placing a hand on his jaw, thinking. –I figured something like that would happen.

-I…think I did too. –You said out loud making them turn to look at you- I mean, it makes sense. If this dimension is really like the game. All characters are supposed to try to get me to like them.

-Exactly –said Seven. Yoosung just looking confused and full of questions.

-It’s kind of late, why don’t we go to sleep and tomorrow morning I am going to call Jumin, Zen and Jaehee so we can talk about it and decide what to do. I’ve researched and analyzed more things just now.

-Okay, sounds good. –responded Yoosung and you nodded. 

-Okay! –said Seven stretching his arms and neck. 

-Oh! I almost forgot. We brought you a bubble tea and some food! including red bean fish-shaped cakes. -You said winking at him. 

-Ooooh!!! –said Seven opening his eyes excited, you could almost imagine him turning into the heart eyes emoji. 

-Thank youuu!! I think sleep can wait for a while haha! –He said almost jumping from his seat to go to the kitchen. You giggled and followed him, Yoosung following after you.

You ended up just eating a couple of fish-shaped cakes before you all started to yawn, it was already 2:00am. Yoosung said goodnight to you both and went out of the kitchen heading towards Seven’s room to take some pillows and covers to sleep on the couch. You kissed Seven goodnight too, wishing you could kiss him longer. And started to head to your room, when Luciel grabbed your wrist gently. You turned to see him, he had a deep red tint on his cheeks.

-__...do you, do you want to sleep with me tonight? I…I’m sorry if I didn’t want to the other night, I was just scared and wanted to make sure you were going to be safe, and…

You smiled calming him down. –It’s alright, Seven. Let me just go to get my stuff and I’ll be there in a minute.

-Okay. –He smiled back at you.

You walked back to your room and on the way there you saw Yoosung in the living room, he was placing the pillows and covers on the large couch. You thought of something.

-Yoosung...Um, I’m going to sleep in Seven’s room. Would you like to sleep on this room so you are more comfortable? –You said shyly pointing at the room. 

-S-sure –He responded and although his voice as normal, you detected how his expression turned rather stiff, especially a look on his eyes that you couldn’t describe. But one that he made sure to change quickly.

You took your stuff and walked to Seven’s room. Before entering the guest room, Yoosung gave you a polite smile when you were passing but didn’t say anything. You opened the door, and saw Luciel lying on his bed on one side, looking at his cellphone. He was wearing a black tank top and blue sweatpants, he still had his silver cross around his neck lying beside him. You suddenly felt a bubble of happiness growing inside you. The prospect of sleeping with him just felt so special. 

He noticed you and when you closed the door he blushed a little, you awkwardly went to the corner of the room to change to sleeping clothes. When you lifted your shirt, you somehow felt his eyes running down your back, you heard him standing up from the bed and for a moment you thought he was going to approach you, but then he turned the lights off. Now the only light coming from below the door and his cellphone that soon went dark too. You felt him behind you when you were slipping your sleeping shorts on and when you stood up straight, he placed his hands around your waist and placed a kiss on your neck on one side. 

Without saying anything, and with the silence and peace of the now dark room, you both walked to the bed. He sat down on it, resting his back on the wall beside it, and with his help you sat down on his lap hugging him from the waist and burying your face on his neck, taking in the comforting scent of his skin. He placed one hand on your back to keep you in place and the other one to hug you from your legs, the only sound in the room being your calm and soft breathings. 

In that moment you knew that if any place in the universe felt like home, it was beside him. You stayed like that for a couple of minutes and you were almost drifting into sleep when he spoke.

-__...-He whispered- How do you feel about me?

Your heart started racing at the sudden question. Was Seven worried about your feelings towards him? You knew that you had been kind of evasive with him when you got around that topic, but it was mainly because it all had happened so fast. But, maybe Saeyoung didn’t know that, you hadn't explain it to him. 

-What do you mean? –you asked softly, also whispering.

-I…I mean…-You could feel and even hear his heart racing too. 

In that moment, his vulnerability felt so close. This was Saeyoung, not 707, not Seven, not Luciel, but the beautiful raw Saeyoung. It was so humbling to know that he trusted you so much that he would let you see that part of himself, that part we all keep hidden from the world. But somehow after knowing all that he had and still was going through, and seeing how he faced everything so bravely was the saddest yet the most beautiful thing, and it made your heart ache. 

But your heart also ached for another reason. You had been so happy these couple of days that you wanted to shout, cry and laugh at the same time, and tell the whole world that after all that you’ve been through in your life as well, you had found this incredible human, one that you wanted to make so happy that no sadness would ever touch him again. And you were ready to fight against anyone or anything that would stand between you. 

You also felt so vulnerable in that moment and tears began to slowly fall down from your eyes, rolling on your cheeks and landing on his neck. 

-__? Did I say something wrong? I’m sorry. –He said sounding confused and turning to see you. 

-N-no –You answered and lifted your head from his neck to clean your eyes with the back of your hand- You didn’t.

You looked back at him, even in the darkness you could still see those eyes that were filled with sadness, but that you knew that nothing would ever overshadow their kindness. 

-Saeyoung…

-Yes?...

-I…I love you.

You heard how his lungs filled with air as he took a deep breath.

-I love you, Saeyoung. I love you so much that before you I…I didn’t know what love was. –You continued. 

-I love you so much, that I feel that every single second I waited for you was worth it.

-I love you, and I want to see you happy every single day for the rest of your life…

 

After a couple of seconds, Saeyoung let the air of his lungs out.

-I love you too, __...and I want you to know that you just made me the happiest man in the universe...


	12. Chapter 12

You woke up and felt the warmth of Saeyoung’s arms around your waist, his peaceful breathing beside your ear. You turned carefully to see him, his hair was messy and his glasses were lying far beside him. You wanted to enjoy that view longer, but you needed to go to the bathroom. You took his cellphone to check the time; it was 7:30am. As gently as possible, you removed his arms from your waist to free yourself, he groaned in protest, but then he turned around and kept sleeping. You decided to take your clothes for the day to take a shower too, it was probably too early, but you were feeling like it. If you didn’t wash your hair you could even go back and sleep more. 

You got out of the room; there was no sound audible in the bunker. You spotted Meowy on the living room with her eyes closed; she was plugged to one of the outlets. You opened the door to the bathroom and closed it behind you. You were removing your shorts, when you heard a door opening outside and wondered if it had been Seven or Yoosung. You jumped when someone knocked on the door.

\- I won’t take long! –you said out loud.

-It’s me –said the unmistakable voice of Saeyoung from the other side.

You hesitated a moment, but then opened slightly and peeked your head outside. Saeyoung had a playful smirk plastered on his face

-Can I come in? –he asked whispering.

You felt a bit confused but in the form of an answer you opened the door wider so he could go through. As soon as he got inside he locked the door making you gulp hard. To your surprise, he pushed you to the nearest wall and placed a hand beside your head, he lowered his face close to yours.

-What do you think you were doing? –He asked you.

-I...I was about to shower. 

-Without me? –He said lifting an eyebrow; you didn’t know what to answer to that. He was acting this…way again.

-You don’t do that, kitten –He said and before you could answer, he clashed his lips with yours.

You opened your eyes in confusion, but soon you closed them and returned the rough kiss, his tongue invading your mouth like he was hungry. He started exploring your body running his nails along your skin, making you move in your place. He finished taking your clothes off for you, starting with your panties and pulling back to take your shirt off and to undress himself too. His eyes had a dangerous shine in them.

He lifted you up placing your legs around his hips. You felt his length placed over your vulva sending a tingling and anticipating sensation along it, but then he placed you inside the shower and closed the glass door. He turned on the shower behind you and adjusted the water without taking his eyes from yours, your heart was racing.

The water was nice and warm when he took soap from one of the shelves and started running it along your body making bubbles. He started at your shoulders and went down painfully slowly, now directing his gaze to where his hands were passing. Steam was already all around you when he got to your boobs and ran a nail on top of them, desire starting to pool itself between your legs. He used both of his hands to hold your boobs and started rubbing them, making them soapy. 

Until that moment you were just standing there frozen, but you came back to your senses and took soap too and placed your hands on his back washing and massaging it. He moved to your nipples and started rubbing them at the same time with two fingers on each hand, your breathing increasing. After a while of washing each other, your skin was incredibly sensitive, each and every touch that Saeyoung gave you would go directly to your core, that and the steam of the shower was making you dizzy. Seven suddenly stopped and took your hands that were washing his chest and abdomen to his shoulders.

-Leave them there –He ordered. And with that he took one of your legs and placed it on his side. He took the soap again and made his hand extra soapy before placing it in between your legs. Your back arched when he started running it along your lips and in between, rubbing your clit, and going back and forth. Your soft moans started to fill the bathroom when he got close to your ear to whisper.

-Keep it down so we don’t wake up Yoosung. 

You blushed thinking about that, so you nodded. Seven kept playing with you, until the soap was all gone, and it was completely replaced by a combination of water but mostly your desire. You directed your gaze at his face; he was biting his lower lip with an expression that only made your insides ache even more, wanting him more. Contrary to what he had told you, you took away one of your hands from his shoulders and took his shaft, using your thumb to circle the head already drenched in precum. He shot his head back in pleasure and moaned. When he looked back at you, his expression had change again. 

-I thought I told you not to move. –He said and leaned in to bite your neck, but you didn’t care about his warning and started pumping his shaft up and down. 

You heard him groan again as he sucked and bit you harder, leaving a mark and making you whimper. He moved his mouth to your ear, kissed it and bit it gently while you kept pumping him. 

-I was going to go easy on you…-He whispered- But you asked for it.

With a fast movement, he lifted both of your legs and placed them on his hips, supporting you from your ass. You felt the cold tile of the shower on your back that contrasted deliciously with how hot the rest of your body was feeling. 

You felt Saeyoung’s tip at your entrance for less than a second before he pushed inside of you hard, going all in at once. You moaned loud and closed your eyes to keep them from rolling to the back. You didn’t know just how horny and desperately you wanted him until he started going in and out of you hard and fast, not even waiting to pace up. You kept trying to keep it down, but he was fucking you so merciless that it was almost impossible. 

You looked at him, his muscles marked on his shoulders and arms, his wet red hair dripping on his face, while the water kept falling. He was not wearing his glasses, and you could see his golden eyes shinier than ever. His lips were parted and his expression just like yours was filled with pleasure.

After a while of that steady pace, you were a mess, you couldn’t keep it down anymore. You wanted to keep this feeling going on forever but you also desperately wanted to come. You felt your orgasm close, so close you could almost grab it, when Seven dramatically slowed down. You protested and tried to move your hips to go faster again, but he grabbed your ass harder to keep you in place. He had a devious smirk plastered on his face. You groaned protesting again.

-What is it, princess? –He whispered.

-Pleassee…-You managed to say.

-What do you want? say it. 

-Saeyoung, pleaseee…

-Say it, __

-I want to come…

And with that he paced up again, in seconds he was doing you even faster than he was before, he used one hand to play with your clit at the same time. Your moans filled the bathroom; no longer caring if Yoosung or the whole world heard you. And just when you felt you were about to faint at how much pleasure was built up inside of you, your orgasm came, possessing your whole body, your toes curling and even though you could barely hear anything, you heard his name leaving your lips messily as you felt himself coming inside of you. 

 

 

After actually showering and getting dressed up, you and Saeyoung were now at the kitchen making pancakes; you had already made coffee and were drinking it while talking about everything and anything, you felt very relaxed and happy, and he was making you laugh as much as ever. You kept studying his expressions now and then. In that moment, he had his tongue sticking from one side of his mouth concentrated on pouring the pancake batter. You giggled.

-haha you look so cute, Seven. 

He turned just realizing you were looking at him and his cheeks blushed slightly. How was it that he could go so easily back and forth from the sweetest dork to sex machine? You couldn’t understand it at all, but you knew two things for sure. One, that now you knew for sure it was not your imagination. And two, that you actually…somehow…really liked it…

-Annddd…baam badabam!! the pancakes are readyyy!!! –beamed Seven happily placing the pile that was so big that it looked about to fall on the table. Some of them where slightly burnt- I’m going to go call Yoosung okay? You can start digging in if you want to!!

-I’m already here. –said a voice from the kitchen door. You turned to look at Yoosung, he had his arms crossed on his chest, a slightly annoyed look on his face- I’ve been here for a while, you know?

-um...I’m sorry (?) –Started Seven- You were very silent.

-Yeah, I guess at least I...was very silent. –answered Yoosung avoiding both of your gazes, while approaching the table to serve himself.

You and Seven turned to look at each other, sitting down at the table too. He had obviously heard you, there was no way he hadn’t. You felt a pinch of guilt on your stomach, he was obviously upset, you didn’t know how to react or what to say, and apparently Seven didn’t either, because just like you he just ate his pancakes in silence. After minutes of uncomfortable silence, Seven cleared his throat and spoke up.

-So…I already texted the others and they’re going to be here soon. 

-Good. –Answered Yoosung coldly. You just nodded and directed a reassuring smile to Seven. 

You finished the rest of your food fast, so you could get up from the table. And as soon as you excused yourself and started to walk towards the living room, you heard the door on the other side. 

-Please say the numbers from 1 to 10 in Arabic –Said the door.

-Come ooon, Seven!! just open up! it’s us. –Said a voice from the other side. Emotion growing on your stomach as you recognized Zen’s voice.

-I’m sorry, that’s the only way I will let you in! –beamed the door.

-Please move to the side, Zen. I think I still remember some Arabic from my trips and meetings with oil princes. –Said the unmistakable deep voice of Jumin. 

-Ugh, of course the trustfund kid thinks he knows it all as always. –Answered Zen.

-It is honestly a shame that you don’t have as many travel opportunities as I do, but you shouldn’t be so jealous about it. –Said Jumin.

-You…!-Started Zen, but a female voice interrupted. 

-Please Zen, Mr. Han. Instead of fighting let’s just send a text message to Luciel –You immediately recognized that voice as Jaehee’s.

You ran back to the kitchen and were about to tell Seven, but he was already standing up.

-hahaha I just heard them, thanks __ -He said with a cheeky grin and headed towards the entrance door.


	13. Chapter 13

You were going to follow Saeyoung immediately, but turned around to see if Yoosung was coming too. He wasn’t probably expecting that because he jumped slightly. You smiled at him.

-Are you coming, Yoosung?

-U-um…in a moment. –He said shyly and blushing only keeping eye contact for a second before going back to his pancakes. For some reason he didn’t seem bothered anymore, or maybe it was that he wasn’t mad at you specifically…

-Hello guys!!! –You heard Seven saying from the other room. 

You walked apprehensively outside of the kitchen, your heart started to race. You stopped a moment at the kitchen’s door before proceeding as you heard their voices clearer now.   
You couldn’t believe your eyes as you were walking towards the 4 figures standing near the front gate. For a moment you couldn’t make sense of anything they were saying as your brain was processing what you were seeing.   
The first to caught your attention was Zen that was facing Seven the closest. You had always thought he was being kind of (too much) narcissistic every time he would speak about himself and just how handsome he was. But, to be fair you couldn’t blame him anymore, he was indeed very handsome with very symmetrical features; his long shiny white hair tied cleanly in a ponytail that contrasted perfectly with his uncommon red eyes, his skin was almost unnaturally flawless, he was wearing a grey long-sleeved shirt, black pants and black combat boots. Overall, he did kind of seem like a living statue. 

Just behind Zen was Jumin. He had his eyes closed in a slight frown and his arms closed on his chest, while hearing to Zen’s and Seven’s conversation, his raven black hair elegantly (and perhaps purposely) messy to one side. Jumin was slightly taller than Zen, wearing a perfectly tailored black suit paired with a black tie, a grey and white striped shirt and if that wasn’t enough, his black shoes were also impeccable and shiny. His posture and general demeanor was elegant and poised. 

Beside him was Jaehee, she was just looking at them attentively and calmly. She had a very gorgeous face framed with squared glasses and short, shiny, sleek brown hair. She was wearing a black tailored women’s suit with a white blouse, and comfortable but yet elegant looking black heels. She was carrying a small bag on her side and had her cellphone on one resting hand to her side. She looked overall very professional and composed.

You were almost feeling underdressed with your jeans and pullover by looking at all of them, even Zen. But then you remembered that Seven and Yoosung were also wearing casual clothes. 

-…I don’t care if it’s about security, dude. You really have to change the programming on that gate, it’s so annoying coming to your house like this. –Said Zen

-Okay, okay. Geez, I’ll think about it okay? How’s that? –Said Seven with a happy voice as usual, contrasting completely with Zen’s tone. 

Zen took some air to respond, but then he seemed to have finally noticed you out of the corner of his eyes. He turned to look at you and closed his mouth, he stood straight again and looked at you directly. After a couple of seconds Jumin and Jaehee followed Zen’s gaze and turned to look at you too. No one was saying anything and you were starting to feel uncomfortable when Seven cleared his throat and spoke up.

-Everyone, this is __. __, this is everyone. 

-Hello –You said with an awkward smile. 

Jaehee and Jumin were the first ones to answer.

-Hello, I’m Jaehee Kang –said Jaehee professionally.

-Nice to meet you, lady. My name is Jumin Han. –Said Jumin politely with a deep formal voice. 

Zen, that had been standing there just staring at you, approached you suddenly passing beside Seven. When he got close to you, he took one of your hands and to your surprise he placed a kiss on the back of it. He looked up at you. 

-Hello there, my name is Zen…musical actor. 

On the back you heard Seven chuckling. 

-She already knows you, dumbass.

Zen left your hand and turned to look at Seven to give him a quick warning look before looking at you again.

-So…then should I assume you’re a fan of mine? –He said giving you a flirty smirk.

-U-um…well, I’ve never seen you on stage. -you said not knowing how to explain it.

-Oh, we have to fix that, don’t we? I’ll give you free passes anytime you want. But, I’ll need your number for that. –He said still using that flirty tone. 

-I know you are almost incapable of controlling yourself, Zen. But this is ridiculous –said Jumin.

-I don’t want to do this right now, Jumin. –Said Zen sighing and slightly turning to see him. 

-I am not the one that is… -Jumin started but Seven interrupted.

-Guys, guys. Please let’s just sit down and talk. I have a lot to discuss with you…

 

You were all now sitting at the living room, including Yoosung that seemed to be back to normal. 

-Okay! So –Seven began- does anyone want some water first or anything?

-Luciel, its Monday morning. Assistant Kang and I are incredibly busy; we just came here because you said it was extremely important. –Said Jumin looking a bit impatient but never losing his poise. 

-Okay, I was just trying to be a good host –Seven said grinning. 

-Anyways –He said pausing a moment getting serious- as you read in my text, I have now ways to proof the hypothesis I told you a few months ago, one that possibly everyone forgot because of how crazy it sounded. __ right here is MC, the true MC.

Everybody sighed almost at the same time, except for Yoosung that was just paying attention. 

-Look, Seven –began Zen- We all get that it might have been painful for you to break up with that other beautiful girl called MC, we all know how you and her battled against everything and everyone to save your brother and stay together, while at the same time saving us. It was seriously the most brave an amazing thing I’ve ever witness, BUT you have to stop this.

-First MC just means Main Character; it can take the name of anyone –He paused looking at everyone’s faces- Please! I totally understand why you think I’m crazy, but just please first hear all I have to say before you make your own conclusions 

-…I guess that’s fair go on. –said Zen.

-Thank you –said Seven genuinely- I guess I should start by telling you that I am very happy that the restarts have stop, I missed hanging out and talking with you without knowing that it’s been thousands of times we’ve said and done the same repeated things. 

Jaehee opened her mouth at this as if to say something, but then closed it again. Seven continued

\- I’ll just ask you to do one thing later today when you have a moment to yourself. As funny as it sounds, close your eyes and try to remember details about your life. Like, the color of your childhood room, the brand of your first car, your favorite Christmas present…don’t do it right now, just TAKE YOUR TIME when you are alone. 

-That doesn’t sound very productive, what would we be trying to achieve with that? –Asked Jumin.

-Well, I think you won’t be able to remember anything but a summary of your life. Because…because I believe that you guys are not real, I think you are AI programs and…–Seven said and everyone sighed loudly cutting him off. Yoosung spoke this time. 

-Seven…I’m sorry…this is too much; I was starting to feel genuinely curious about the reasoning behind me feeling this…this way about __, and what she, you and Meowy told me. But, how do you expect us to believe you?

-Just try what I told you! Please, I’m not asking you to just blindly believe me, try it. –Said Seven

-Okay, we will –said Zen getting impatient- Is that all?

-No…-said Saeyoung- I also think the resets have stopped a couple of months ago after the thing about my brother got resolved, because I finally chose someone, I chose __. And I feel that’s ultimately what the game wanted me to do. 

-After further research and analyzing, I am starting to think that you might be real too, but you just don’t know it. Maybe the key is for you to realize you’re in a game, I don’t know…

-So, before I get around on how to get myself out of here, I want to know if you’re real too so we can do something about it and get out together...and if not, um…

There was an uncomfortable silence after that, everyone was now looking at Seven not only like he was crazy, but with genuine deep concern and almost even pity. Sadness was washing over you as you saw Saeyoung trying so hard to convince his friends and not being able to, you didn’t know what to say, but you had to say something. 

-Guys…-You began and everyone turned to look at you- I completely understand why you are so skeptical about this and even concerned about Seven. As I mentioned to Yoosung yesterday…the only thing that Seven and I have to prove that I am from another dimension/real world is our word…you won’t lose anything by trying.

-Okay, but even if we don’t remember –began Jaehee- that can just mean we have bad memory for simple things like those.

-Well…Seven mentioned he can’t even remember the faces of his parents. –You said.

Everyone turned to look at Seven.

It’s true –He said nodding.


	14. Chapter 14

Everyone just stayed silent looking at Seven, then some of them stared at the floor for some moments and then looking confused proceeded to close their eyes except for Jumin. 

-I am terribly sorry to hear that, Luciel. But, I think I speak for everyone when I say that we are very concerned about you. I am willing and ready to refer you at your earliest convenience with some of the best psychiatrist in the field, some of which helped Saeran and…-said Jumin, but was interrupted by Yoosung. 

-Oh my god… –said Yoosung suddenly, a slight panicked tone in his voice- I…I can’t remember my parent’s faces either.

Jaehee and Zen still had their eyes closed, with Zen pressing his eyelids closed harder. You waited expectantly, and then Jaehee opened her eyes.

-I…I can’t do it either. I also can’t remember the other things like my childhood bedroom, my first car...

Zen was the last one in battle, he sighed and was looking desperate when he finally opened his red eyes. Everyone looked at him when he finally shook his head from left to right twice.

-But, I don’t understand. I am able to remember my father’s face and appearance perfectly without having to stop and close my eyes, isn’t it something that comes naturally? –said Jumin raising an eyebrow. 

-I might know the reason for that…-You said- How about your mother’s face, do you remember her? 

-Well, of course I…-Jumin began but he suddenly stopped and put a hand on his jaw in contemplation.

-I don’t know –began Jaehee- We might just be tired, I’ve been barely sleeping, Mr. Han has been working like crazy, Zen has been in endless long rehearsals and Yoosung always stays until late playing videogames…it’s also Monday morning. 

Saeyoung sighed and said,

-Please just go home and think about it, you don’t have to answer now…also think about what I mean with repetitive answers, actions and situations, that took the longest for me…but I am hoping you are able to get there too. And come back to the bunker at any time.

There was a moment of silence before Jumin (that until now was deep in thought) spoke up.

-Luciel, where is Saeran? 

As soon as Saeran’s name left his lips, Saeyoung tensed up enough to be visible. He took a deep breath before closing his eyes. He then opened them and directed his gaze at the floor before he answered.

-I guess I can no longer evade this question…Saeran…he, he is in the abandoned Mint Eye’s headquarters right now. 

-What??!! –said Zen immediately standing up- What the hell is he doing back there??

-Well, before I brought __ to this dimension, I showed him my algorithms and all the data I had accumulated, I told him my plan to bring __. I also um…asked him the same questions I did to you and he couldn’t remember either. I feel now that it was probably a mistake to throw all that bomb to him at once…because even though he has been taking his medications and has been improving all together, he…he had a mental breakdown and ran out of the house with a backpack. 

-I obviously followed him in another car and sure enough we arrived to Mint Eye’s headquarters. I intercepted him before entering the abandoned building, but he told me repeatedly to leave him alone while destroying the locks and using his laptop to deactivate all the security that Jumin’s employees had placed there. 

-And after trying again and again to stop him and bring him back or at least to talk to me, at the end I decided it was probably wise to give him some time to sort everything out, I was planning to go see him soon…I texted him the day that I brought __, I told him that the plan had worked out and that I was sorry I was burdening him so much, I also asked if he was okay and if he needed me to bring him anything. He responded with a simple “I’m okay”…but at least he responded…-He finished.

You looked at Seven reading his expression, he looked comprehensively sad and worried, it was no wonder anymore why he couldn’t talk about Saeran when you asked him. You approached him and placed a hand on his back, giving him a side hug. He gave you a weak but grateful smile. 

You turned your gaze at everyone and saw that they were incapable of saying anything, and you couldn’t blame them. All of this was really a bomb of information and you couldn’t believe just how long Seven had to take the burden basically alone.

-Assistant Kang –said Jumin suddenly- please clear both of our schedules for this week, we have to give all of our attention to this issue at the moment.

-But, Mr. Han –said Jaehee opening her eyes in surprise- We have so many meetings with important clients this week and…

-Please, just do as I say assistant Kang, we both know this is an extremely important issue and it can’t wait.

Jaehee opened her mouth again to say something, but she closed it again and nodded, probably realizing he was right. 

-I…I’m also going to miss school this week -said Yoosung- I don’t think it would matter much, especially if this situation is real. 

-I’m going to cancel my rehearsals also –said Zen suddenly- RFA has always stayed together and this time should not be different. 

Everyone nodded, Seven smiled.

-Thank you so much for trusting me, guys. I’ll do my best as always. 

 

Everyone left to organize their schedules; they had discussed about staying all together at the bunker later, but realized it was too small to accommodate everyone, so Jumin said he was going to look for other options. You and Seven were still sitting at the living room when you heard the door closing after the last one left. You were sitting at one of the armchairs while Seven was now sitting at one corner of the big sofas, he was lost in his thoughts, he looked very tense so you stood up and approached him and you sat down beside him.

-I’m going to text my brother and ask him if we can go see him soon, I hope that being truly together we can support each other and plan something. I hope he agrees…-He said sighing and taking out his cellphone. 

-That’s a good idea, Seven. –You said giving him a reassuring smile.

He moved closer to you so you could see what he was writing.

“Saeran…I just spoke to everyone, we want to make sense of this together. I need you brother…could you come back to the bunker?”

You nodded to show you agreed with it and he sent it. He was about to put his cellphone back in his pocket, when his cellphone dinged with a notification. He opened the message.

“Please come to the abandoned Mint Eye headquarters, we can work better here and I think is safer for now…try to leave at night and please be careful on the way.”

Seven smiled widely and gratefully. 

“Thank you, Saeran. I’ll tell the others, we’ll be there tomorrow morning” 

He put his cellphone away and turned to you smiling cheek to cheek, without warning he carried you from the waist and placed you on his lap. You blushed at the sudden action, having him so close now. 

-Thank you, princess -He said directing a loving gaze to you that made your heart and stomach flutter at the same time- You stand by my side and make me feel strong, so much stronger than I really I’m. 

-Saeyoung…you’re the strongest person I know. –You said sincerely. A short happy laugh came out of his lips that made your heart jump, you really loved that laugh, you could hear it all day and never get tired of it. 

-I love you, __...

He leaned in closer to place small kisses everywhere on your face making you giggle. Your forehead, cheeks, eyelids, nose and finally lowering down to your lips. He took your lower lip between his and sucked it softly; he tilted his head to one side and placed a hand on the back of your hair messing with it, his other hand was resting on your waist while deepening the kiss. 

You didn’t know how much time you spent kissing each other, you were getting aroused but mostly your heart was bursting with happiness, you felt a certain way you didn’t remember feeling any time before in your life. Saeyoung made your heart beat faster but slower at the same time. He made you feel happy, anxious, fearful, peaceful, weak, strong, all at the same time and the part that probably amazed you the most, was that you felt comfortable giving him all of those emotions. 

You parted the kiss, both of you looking at each other with half opened eyes; you were feeling dizzy, drunk with love.

-__...have you eaten yet? –asked Saeyoung suddenly worried. You shot your head back to laugh loudly. 

-Seriously, Saeyoung? –You said smiling and teasing him.

-I am, though! Do you have a problem with that, miss? –He said grinning and lifting an eyebrow.

-Uumm- you began still smiling, but he started attacking you with tickles making you laugh uncontrollably.

-Oh my god, Seven, stop! –You said in between laughs trying to push his hands away.

-God Seven will stop when you agree to eat something! –He said still grinning.

-I literally just ate pancakes!! -You said out of breath

-Eat something else! Eat veggies! -He said, he was winning the fight.

-Okay, Okay I will! But you have to eat some too!


	15. Chapter 15

You were hanging out in the kitchen again, Seven was humming and looking inside the refrigerator to find these veggies that he desperately wanted you to eat. 

-Aha! I had forgotten that you brought some food offerings to God Seven last night!! -He said while taking out the food from the street vendors. 

-Lol, food offerings? –You said lifting an eyebrow.

-Yes! When you bring offerings to God Seven he grants you wishes, did you know that? 

-hahaha God Seven is so generous!...So, wishes huh? Let’s see… –You said placing a finger on your lips to think- How about we play some videogames? 

-That’s your wish? It sounds more like a granted wish to me!! 

-I haven’t finished yet –you said with mischief- We’ll play videogames but I want that the whole time you act like you are my butler.

Seven looked surprised for a moment. But then, he lowered his face, his glasses glinting while he pushed them up from the bridge of his nose. 

-I can absolutely do that…master. –He said, making you giggle. 

 

After both of you ate some of the leftovers, you were back sitting at the living room alone, while setting the TV and going through Seven’s videogames saved on the console. He had some interesting ones, you ended up picking something cliché but fun nonetheless; a zombie first shooter game. You were busy setting the second controller, when a formal voice interrupted you.

-Welcome back home, my lady. –You looked up to see where it was coming from.

Standing there was Seven. He was wearing a full elegant black suit with vest and a white shirt under it. Around his neck he had a simple black ribbon-like tie. He had white gloves on and was carrying a tray with a tea set and a plate full of what seemed like tea cookies. His red hair and yellow stripped glasses contrasting with the rest of his outfit. He let you to check him out for a couple of seconds more before speaking up again. 

-Would you like dinner, a bath or me? –He said lifting an eyebrow.

Your throat went dry, you didn’t know what to answer to that. Until that moment you hadn’t seen Seven wearing anything different from his usual casual shirts, jeans and hoodies. He looked extremely handsome. 

-Oh? –He said pretending to just realize what you were doing- Well, I see that you have already selected your entertainment for this beautiful afternoon, my lady.

He then proceeded to walk up to the coffee table, setting the contents of the tray on it carefully. 

-I brought the finest Darjeeling tea from the kitchens and your favorite tea cookies to go with it; I hope they are of your liking. 

-T-thank you, Mr. Choi. –You said finally deciding to speak up. 

-Please madam, you know you can call me Luciel. –He said now smoothly pouring tea to one cup.

-Luciel…would you please join me? –You said now signaling to the second controller sitting beside you on the sofa. 

-I am at your sevice, my lady –He said slightly bowing- besides, tea and videogames sound lovely. 

You chuckled making him give you a complicit smirk. You could tell he wanted to laugh too, but he was a very good actor. It occurred to you that his work at secret agencies had helped with that. 

You had been playing for more than an hour. All the tea and cookies were gone and slowly but surely Seven had left his Butler attitude, especially because you kept beating his zombie killing stats at every chapter.

-Oh, man! –He said lowering his controller and shaking his head.- Damn, __ You are good! I can’t believe you’re beating me, not even Yoosung can do that.

-haha, I am indeed very good at first person shooter games –You said winking at him.

-I am in love –He said looking back at you in admiration. You giggled.

-What do you want to do now, Mr. Butler? –You said smirking at him.

-Whatever you want, my lady. I’ll attend your every need. –He said suggestively, placing his controller aside.

He leaned in to kiss you, he placed one hand that still had gloves on, on your back under your shirt and pull-over. He started caressing the naked skin up and down while he continued kissing you. The kiss was slow and passionate; you were already lost in it when a familiar voice spoke up.

-Hey guys! It took a while but I am back from… -said Yoosung arriving to the living room, he was carrying a brown backpack and looked surprised for a moment looking from Seven to you and back. 

-…Heey! Yoosung…welcome back! –Seven said nervously laughing and bowing slightly while still sitting down, probably in an attempt to act like a butler again and break the awkwardness. 

-You know…? –began Yoosung, his eyes had suddenly darkened from his bright lilac to purple- You don’t have to rub it on my face at every opportunity. And why the hell are you dressed like that?

-…that’s not my intention, Yoosung. And I was just pretending to be __’s butler until you guys came back. –Finished Seven blushing slightly.

-I knew you were fucking insane. How do you expect me to trust you to protect __ and all of us when you always act like a 5 year old? –asked Yoosung, he sounded pissed by this point. 

-Woah, dude. You are acting very weird right now. What is your problem? 

-What is my problem?! –He said throwing his backpack on the floor and starting to approach both of you. Seven instinctively stood up in front of you to shield you from him.

-Yoosung, calm down. This isn’t you; this is your brain’s programming set by Cheritz

-That is bullshit. I know I couldn’t trust you or anyone in the RFA who can move on so easily after all that has happened. 

-Yoosung, no one has moved on completely or easily. It has been very hard for all of…

-For all of you?! What are you saying, you didn’t really lost anyone!! V wasn't even that important to you. You kept your brother and even scored a girlfriend. I lost Rika a second time!! She is far away from my reach once again, and all because you kept messing up. I won’t let you do that with __ too. I felt that I was destined to love and protect __ from the very first moment I saw her. I won’t let you take anyone away from me again.

-Yoosung…please sit down and let’s talk calmly. 

-No! I am tired of hearing to your bullshit. Step aside, I am going to take care of __ myself! It’s going to be me and her forever from now on. __... –He added looking now directly at you lovingly in the creepiest of ways, sending a cold shiver of fear down your neck.- I love you, I am in love with you...I’ll do everything for you, I don’t care about my life. 

-Yoosung don’t do this, please… –You said, tears began to form in your eyes and roll down you cheeks, you were both scared and sad about the situation. You didn’t know what to do. 

-__, you love me as much as I do, right?...right?! You just have to tell this fucking idiot and come into my arms. –He said walking again towards you.

Seven got in defense position and you were looking around for a escape route, when suddenly a pair of arms grabbed Yoosung by the shoulders and pulled him backwards. Zen was standing behind him with a comprehensible confused and also angry expression. 

-Let me go!!! –Shouted Yoosung.

-Yoosung, calm the fuck down –said Zen while Yoosung kept struggling to free himself, but he was no match for Zen; he was taller and stronger. 

-Seven, call the others. They need to hurry up –Said Zen and Seven nodded.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Long chapter today just for you, guys!! <3  
> And please feel free to ask me any questions about the plot or anything. I've been adding more and more stuff and I have at least 2 pages full of notes on my computer so I don't mess up anything, lol. In some cases I won't be able to answer all of your questions, just so I don't give out any spoilers. But I'll answer everything I can.
> 
> Anyways, enjoy!

In a combined effort from Seven and Zen, Yoosung finally calmed down. They mostly made him realize how much he had upset you. The way he had looked directly into your eyes so painfully before Zen took him to the guest room to talk, had left your heart aching painfully. Seven had stayed with you and hugged you, while your quiet sobs got muffled by his chest. 

-It’s my entire fault, Seven…-You said still buried in his chest. 

-What are you saying, __? –whispered Seven- there’s no way that was your fault, I don’t even think it was Yoosung’s fault. It is just harder for him to control his emotions…and I cannot blame him…

-I…I should have told him this was a possibility since the moment I met him…

-If anyone should have done that, it was me...-responded Seven stiffening, he sounded heartbroken too- He is my best friend after all…

Suddenly you heard the gate opening, steps, and sure enough Jaehee and Jumin were now standing at the entrance of the living room. 

-Good afternoon, Luciel, __...I brought a large van so we could all travel comfortably and my driver will be waiting outside for whenever we are ready to leave. –said Jumin

-Hello guys, welcome back…please tell your driver to go home, Jumin. This time it will be wiser if we drive ourselves taking turns. –responded Seven

Jumin lifted an eyebrow, but after a couple of seconds he closed his eyes briefly and nodded.

-I understand. Please let Mr. Kim know, Assistant Kang.

-Yes, Mr. Han –responded Jaehee taking out her cellphone. 

.Luciel –said Jumin apparently just noticing what Seven was wearing- I am glad to see that you have started to dress more properly. 

Despite the situation, you couldn’t help but chuckle.

-This is not…-Seven began but sighed- it’s a long story, okay? I guess I should go change.

Seven was about to stand up when you heard a door closing, Jumin and Jaehee took a seat in the living room. Soon enough Zen was now at the entrance of the living room and he leaned against one of the glass walls sighing. 

-Good, you are here now –said Zen looking at Jumin and Jaehee, he then addressed everyone- …so, for the most part I think Yoosung is calmed now. He is very sorry for what happened, especially to you, __ 

-It’s okay…–you said while you felt tears threatening to fall from your eyes again- It’s not his fault. 

-Please, tell us what happened in more detail. The message had a lot of typos. –said Jumin

-Yeah…we were trying to restrain him when I wrote it. –said Seven low-spirited. 

-Restrain him?! –said Jaehee bringing a hand to her mouth in a short gasp.

Seven began explaining, followed by Zen telling what happened when he arrived with you adding details now and then.

-Then Zen took him into that room so they could talk about it. What did he tell you, Zen? Does he know or has any idea of why he acted that way? –asked Seven

-He...He just kept telling me how much he wanted to get __ to like him just as much as he likes her. And that he didn’t know exactly what made him act that way, that he just felt extremely attracted to her the first time he saw her…and I mean…who could blame him. –Zen said unexpectedly directing a flirty smile to you making you blush. 

-So, you feel it too then? –asked Seven looking at Zen 

-What exactly? –Zen said.

-Do you guys feel attracted to __ in any way? Do you feel like you want her to like you and notice you more than she notices anyone else? –said Seven adressing everyone.

-I…to be honest I do…-said Zen being the first to respond- It’s not just that she is a beautiful girl, I just feel that she is very interesting and that I want to know her better…

Seven nodded.

-How about you, Jumin? –Jumin opened his eyes slightly at the direct questioning.

-I do not wish to make a lady uncomfortable. –He said now closing his eyes while closing his arms on his chest. 

-Y-you won’t make me uncomfortable –You said shyly knowing it was important for them to answer. Seven smiled at you gratefully while Jumin opened his eyes again and turned to look at you. His steely, piercing grey eyes intensely looking at yours before he spoke up. 

-You indeed seem like a very kind and intelligent lady. And yes…I must admit I felt drawn to you since the moment I first saw you, you don’t feel like anyone I’ve ever met before…interesting…- He said looking at you for a couple of seconds more, making your blush a darker red. When he noticed this, he moved his gaze from your eyes to look someplace else.

Seven nodded again. 

-How about you, Jaehee –he said now looking at her.

-M-me? –said Jaehee slightly jumping on her seat and blushing before responding- I…I don’t know. She seems very friendly and nice.

Seven sighed and nodded. 

-Okay guys…so…what Yoosung experienced just now, is the Yandere mode the game implemented on him.

-Yandere mode? –asked Zen raising an eyebrow- what the hell is that?

-It’s a certain state that makes characters in games obsessed with the Main Character, so obsessed they don’t reason clearly anymore, they feel this undying love for the MC even if they don’t know them very well. They will do absolutely anything that the MC tells them to do and would even hurt or kill…anyone that stands in between. –said Seven.

Zen low-whistled –That sounds very scary…I did notice Yoosung had all the intention of tackling…or actually really hurt you when I got here.

-Yes…-said Seven down hearted.

-So, why do you think this happened? And if you knew this could happen, why didn’t you tell him? –asked Jaehee. 

-I…I don’t have an excuse other than I didn’t think it could happen unless the MC (which is __ of course) would trigger him in some way, but she didn’t…-responded Seven looking at you.

-I’m sorry this happened…but I really didn’t tell him anything. I didn’t flirt with him or anything, I was just nice to him…I hope that wasn’t it…well, there was this thing that happened…-But you couldn’t continue.

-He um…he…well, I’m pretty sure he got jealous because...because he heard us…–said Seven.

-He heard you what...? oh…-began Jaehee understating middle question when he saw both Seven and you blushing. 

Jumin just stayed quiet and looked at the floor, while Zen sighed but didn’t say anything either. Your heart ached once again knowing what they must have been feeling in that moment, especially because you didn’t know once again what to say or do. 

Then, a thought came to you, Seven had explained them about the resets, but you weren’t sure he had explained exactly why they happened; that while Seven’s route was the "main" route, the MC could choose either of them.

-Um…guys –you began and everyone turned slowly to look at you- I don’t know if Seven has told you this yet, but the resets…

-__, We can go through that when we get to Saeran. –said Seven quickly interrupting you, you gave him a confused look. 

-Saeran…I wanted to ask you about him too, Luciel –said Zen- Are you sure it’s safe for us to go see him in the state he might be in and to “Mint Eye” nonetheless? 

Jumin nodded. –Yes, even though I mostly decided to trust you and obviously made arranges for the trip. I want to know why you don't think is imprudent. 

-I…I imagined you will ask me this. And the only thing I can say for now is please trust me. –Finished Seven.

 

It was already 8pm, Seven had decided to leave around midnight so you could arrive between 6 and 7am. Jumin had mentioned that he could book hotel rooms for everyone to rest meanwhile. But you all decided to just rest as much as possible before leaving and then you could sleep in the van. The boys had insisted for Jaehee to rest in the guest room, while Zen and Yoosung were in the living room. Jumin that had brought his laptop with him had decided to answer to his emails inside the computer room. You and Seven were in his bedroom, he was writing notes on his cellphone and saving the google maps route so it could be accessible at any time without connection. You had taken a small nap and now you were reading a book on Seven’s bed when someone knocked on the door twice. Seven opened the door, it was Zen.

-Hey…so the trust fund kid told us that the van has a small refrigerator inside and that he brought food for everyone…but me and Yoosung want to go buy snacks just in case. We’re going on my motorcycle. 

-Okay, that’s a good idea…although –(oh, no, you actually knew what was coming)-…you know, if you are interested…I have my delicious, nutritious Honey Buddha Chips!!!! 

-Dude! For the hundredth time, I don’t want to try your weird ass chips! Besides, I was actually thinking on buying more healthy snacks, you know I have to take care of my figure –said Zen doing a quick pose making you giggle.

-But Honey Buddha Chips are magical!!! They gave me my super powers; they could even cure your narcissism!! 

-Be thankful that a lady is right here and I don’t want to upset her. –He said sighing and then smiling at you. You just laughed. 

-Fine! If you don’t want my Honey Buddha Chips that only means more for me and Yoosung –said Seven pretending to be hurt. Zen laughed.

-Yeah, yeah…Well, we’ll be back soon! 

-Okay, drive safely! –You said and he winked at you before turning around and leaving. Seven closed the door again.

-__, you like my Honey Buddha Chips, right? 

-hahaha, of course! –A thought suddenly crossed you-...uh, Seven?

-Yes?

-...Why did you interrupt me back in the living room? 

The smile on Seven’s face slowly disappeared. 

-I’m sorry, did I say something wrong? –You said worried.

-No, um –He sat down beside you- you didn’t, __...The reason why I did it is because I haven’t told anyone that the resets happen because the MC can choose between other characters other than me…I don’t want this to turn into a fight to win you over, rather than to be a fight to get all us out of here. 

You thought for some seconds, what he said seemed reasonable so you nodded comprehensively. 

-So… -You said suddenly smirking- Aren’t you going to tell me is also because you got jealous?

-Je-jealous?! –He said opening his eyes wider- I didn’t get jealous!! w-why would I?

-I don’t know…because it’s a bunch of guys and a girl trying to get to me? 

-uuh-uh I-I really don’t mind it, I’m not the jealous type –He said laughing nervously.

-Really? Well, I guess you do have all of my attention anyways, especially while wearing this –You said looking down at him while leaning in closer, we was still wearing the butler outfit.

-After that steamy shower sex, you’ve been teasing me all day, tsk, tsk –You said, his cheeks had turned dark red which made you feel excited and somewhat powerful. It was nice for a change to be the one making him nervous. 

-I… -He began, but you muffled his words grabbing him from the neck tie and pulling him in to kiss him. 

You grabbed his jaw and pulled it down gently with your thumb. As soon as he opened, your tongue invaded his mouth.

-You always taste so sweet, I love that you know? –You said pulling back to see him, a string of saliva still connecting your mouths before you closed the gap again. 

After a while, his muscles relaxed and soft moans started to come out of his mouth exciting you and making you feel more daring. 

-I want to make you feel good, my lady. I want to serve you... –He said pulling back for a second, you felt your pussy getting wetter at his words. 

You smirked and freed him from the tie around his neck. To his surprise, you threw him on the bed and hovered over him. You put his tie over his mouth, and he lifted his head a second to let you tie it on the back. 

-I don’t want to repeat what happened earlier –You said to him- Don’t make a sound. 

He nodded. You looked around the bed, and took 2 t-shirts from the floor to use them to tie his hands to the bed. He opened his eyes surprised again, but let you tie him up. You felt intoxicated by all the confidence and power you were feeling. 

You opened his jacket and vest and started unbuttoning his white shirt painfully slowly. You were sitting on top of him, and you could feel his hard on getting bigger and bigger. When you finally finished unbuttoning, you ran a hand through his strong abdomen and chest, making him arch his back into your touch. Then you lowered your head to his chest and started nibbling his nipples, licking them, he moaned and you bit him hard as a warning.

-Quiet –You said he nodded again. 

You kept going down placing kisses on his abdomen and running your tongue along the marked lines of it. You got to his pants and started massaging the huge bulge that had already formed on them. You opened his zipper and took his lenght out. He looked down to see you, while you ran your tongue and mouth all over to make it wet before starting to caress it up and down. 

You took it all inside your mouth and started bobbing your head up and down slowly, tasting everything. You could feel his breathing getting faster as you yourself went faster. You looked up at him and saw that he had his eyes closed tight, small drops of sweat had begun to appear on his forehead, he kept moving his hips as you paused once in a while to ran your tongue in circles on his head. 

You could feel he was close, his dick started to throb inside your mouth as he started to bring his hips upwards deeper in your mouth and shotting his head back. You looked up at him while stopping. He moved in his place as protest.

-This is payback, Luciel –You said smirking at him, he sighed in desperation.

-Pleaseee

What’s that? I can’t hear you. -You said going up to untie his mouth.

-Please, my lady master –He said panting, his face was bright red, his mouth was slightly open while his face was covered in sweat, his yellow stripped glassed were at the very end of his nose. You bit your lower lip at the sight.

-Okay –You said smirking and untied his hands too. 

As soon as you did that, he grabbed you and turned you over on the bed making you gasp. He then lifted you up from your waist leaving you in four. With a quick movement, he lowered your jeans and pulled your panties to one side. You knew what was coming, but when you felt him slowly pushing through, your knees felt weak while you lowered your head on the bed as he grabbed your hips to keep you in place. 

The only sound in the room was the slapping of skin against skin and the wetness of your pussy. It was proving harder than you thought to stay quiet, but you kept biting your lip to prevent it. Saeyoung started to pace up and you had to bundle up the covers in your hands when he almost sent you flying forward, thankfully he was still grabbing your waist, his thumbs pressed hard between the division of your pelvis and thighs. 

-You're-so-tight-like-this -He told you between each thrust making his best to whisper. 

He lowered himself and bit down hard on your shoulder when his thrust got sloppier. He grabbed and squeezed one of your boobs with one hand.

-F-fuck –He said close to your ear without being able to contain himself.

And then you finally felt his hot cum spilling inside of you and it was just too much, you came hard too while he kept going in and out of your throbbing pussy.


	17. Chapter 17

You were now fully dressed and basically ready to go, you had both packed clothing and other necessities in a backpack. 

-I’m going to go outside and see what the others are up to, I should also start loading Jumin’s van with my hacking stuff that’s still in the car. -said Seven 

-Okay! –You said smiling at him, he smiled back and briefly grabbed your nose to pull it in an affectionate way. You giggled

Seven opened the door carrying both of your backpacks; you put your shoes on and decided to go outside too.

Jumin was resting in one of the armchairs with his arms crossed to his chest and his eyes closed, a strand of his raven black hair resting on his nose, his breathing was calm and steady. You couldn’t understand how he could look still so poised and handsome asleep. Jaehee was nowhere to be seen, probably still in the guest room. You sat down with Seven’s phone on one of the sofas and started mindlessly playing a game on it, trying not to look at Jumin.

Soon enough, Seven came back to the bunker and sat beside you. He looked over at Jumin and chuckled quietly. You knew him so well that you suspected what he has plotting already. 

-Seveeen… -you whispered to him while shaking your head left to right.

-Oh, come on. When am I going to have an opportunity like this again?-He whispered back  
You sighed when he stood up suddenly and ran back to his room. He came back with a pair of white cat ears and a black water marker, he took his cellphone from you. 

-…Seven! –You whispered trying to stop him, but were struggling to stop yourself from laughing at the same time.

He winked at you.

He lowered down the cat ears slowly above Jumin’s head. When the headband finally touched his head he moved on his place, Seven stopped moving. Jumin finally stopped moving after finding another comfortable position, then Seven finished pushing the headband down on his head.  
You didn’t think he was going to go further but sure enough he started carefully drawing whiskers and even drawing a black spot on Jumin’s nose. He kept containing his chuckles while taking out his cellphone and snapping several pictures while you were just covering your mouth. 

Seven sat down again at the same time that Jumin opened his eyes. Seven and you froze.

-Oh, I apologize I must have fallen asleep for a moment. –Jumin said removing the strand of hair from his unknown black nose, his voice was a bit hoarse and his eyes were still sleepy. Seven and you remained silent.

-Are Zen and Yoosung back? –asked Jumin.

-N-no –said Seven struggling, grinning for a moment but then managing to give a straight face- I um…I just finished loading the van. 

Jumin nodded approvingly.

-Please excuse me, I’m going to freshen up. –Jumin said standing up and proceeding to walk towards the bathroom. 

You heard the running water while Seven and you looked at each other.

-Wait for it…-began Seven- 3,2,1…

-Luciel! – said Jumin loudly from the bathroom.- what’s the meaning of this? You are so childish, I can’t believe it. 

Seven couldn’t contain his laughs any longer and started laughing out loud placing a hand on his stomach. As much as you felt bad for pranking Jumin, you couldn’t contain your laughs either. Jumin came back to the living room with a clean face, while you were wiping your laughing tears with the back of your hand. Seven was nowhere near stopping. 

-I’m sorry, Jumin!! I tried to stop him and…–you began, but then you heard shouting from the other side of the gate. Seven stopped laughing seemingly hearing them too.

-Seven, open up!!! This is a fucking emergency!!! –Shouted Zen desperately from the other side of the gate. 

-Please say in Arabic…-said the gate but Zen and Yoosung’s shouts were louder. 

Seven stood up quickly and ran towards the gate. 

-Open up immediately, gate. –He ordered. 

Jumin and you were standing at the entrance too when the door finished opening, Zen and Yoosung were still on the turned on motorbike, their faces were a mix of fear and desperation. 

-Get Jaehee, we have to go NOW! –said Zen. 

-Why? What happened?! –asked Seven.

-We were being followed, it started with a few, but last time we checked it was hundreds. We were barely able to escape! –said Yoosung. 

-But the bunker is extremely safe, we can stay in here and then…-began Seven but was interrupted by Zen. 

-NO! Did you hear what he said? They’re hundreds! I will not be surprised if they’re thousands by now. If we stay here even if they cannot get in, we might not be able to ever get out. 

Seven’s face hardened and then he nodded. 

-__, everyone! get in the van. I’ll go get Jaehee. –He said running towards the guest room and knocking hard on the door. 

You looked back worried but then followed and started running to the big black van. You got in the copilot seat followed by Yoosung and Jumin on the back. You all turned to look at Zen that was still on his motorbike with no signs on turning it off.

-What are you waiting for? Get it. –Jumin told him, but he shook his head. 

-My bike is fast, I want to cause a distraction so you guys can escape easier. –Zen said determined.

-Stop saying non sense! That bike is too open, it’s dangerous; the van has bulletproof windows and wheels. 

-Maybe, but they can turn it over. I’ll catch up later. –responded Zen.

Jumin and Zen were still fighting when Luciel and Jaehee finally arrived; he sat in front of the wheel while Jaehee sat on the back with the others. 

Are you waiting for a formal invitation, Zen? –Said Seven turning the engine on- get in!!

But he shook his head again and without another word he proceeded to go towards the circled platform and started going up. You felt the bubble of anxiety in your stomach growing bigger. 

-Where the hell is he going?!! –asked Seven.

-I tried to stop him! he said he wants to cause a distraction so we can escape. He’s just being an idiot as always. –responded Jumin angrily. 

-Uggh –groaned Seven and went to the circled platform too as soon as it landed on the garage again without Zen. 

When the garage door started opening a cold, cold shiver went down your spine, you could hear at least a thousand voices outside shouting incoherent words. The door started revealing a mass of people (?) getting closer to you coming from the street. Everyone in the car stopped breathing.

-Guys…-Said Seven with his eyes wide open in shock- fasten your seatbelts. 

Seven stepped down hard on the gas and turned right on the street, as soon as you got outside of the garage the voices started getting louder and scarier. You kept looking everywhere for Zen, and discovered with horror that more people were coming out of their houses starting to follow you too. You saw their faces, most of them had an extremely straight face while others had a creepy permanent grin but all of their eyes looked dead, emotionless. 

Seven kept dodging them, parked cars, trees, and fences, anything that got in your way of escaping. Everyone gasped when he ran over one, but the person or whatever it was, still managed to grab himself to one of the window wipers. You felt the hairs on the back of your head standing up when he looked inside of the van with that emotionless and permanent grin. Seven managed to get him off after zig-zagging the van repeatedly. 

Finally, on one of the rearview mirrors you saw Zen. He was going behind the van on his motorbike, a brave and determined expression on his face. By now you couldn’t tell just how many were following you, you could see masses and masses of people behind scaring the crap out of you. 

Jumin seemed to have noticed him too, because he opened the window and shouted back to him.

-Jump in here, you fool!! Leave the motorcycle!! 

But Zen just smirked and as soon as the way opened he shouted back to the mass.

-Hey you, zombies!!! Or whatever the fuck you are!!! I’m right here!!! -He said while waving a distress light that he took out of who knows where. 

-Where the hell did he get that from? –said Jumin lifting an eyebrow.

Zen then turned abruptly to the left. Surprisingly more than half of the mass that was following you started to follow him instead. 

-Oh my god! –said Jaehee covering her mouth. You placed a hand on your aching chest.  
Seven groaned again and shook his head in desperation, but he seemed to finally decide to step on the gas harder. After what felt like an eternity but it was probably just some minutes, you were finally leaving the rest of the mass behind. You were now also entering a trail in the woods going up a hill, leaving civilization behind. The whole time all of you kept looking everywhere to try and spot Zen again, you could feel the tension growing inside of the van. 

Seven started slowing down and he finally parked beside a big tree, leaving the car on but turning off all the lights. 

-We’ll wait here for a while, I’ll call if he…if he’s still not here. But we can’t wait for too long for obvious reasons… -said Seven

-What do you mean obvious reasons?!! You haven’t told us anything about what these things are!! –said Jaehee mortified, surprisingly Yoosung answered. 

-It’s just what __ and Seven told us. They are programs…

-Yes –nodded Seven- I was expecting something like this to happen but not at this scale, I knew Cheritz wanted me to choose someone, it wasn’t that hard to bring __ to be honest. But I think they don’t want us to get out, and they might be pissed that now I am trying to get ALL of us out. 

Everyone remained silent. Fear and tension could be felt. 

-So, that means we’re definitely not machines. –asked Yoosung.

-I don’t think so anymore, no –answered Seven- although I think you have to be careful, Cheritz definitely still has some sort of power on all of us, and that’s why your Yandere mode was activated without much provocation. 

-Oh –said Yoosung simply, now deep in thought.

-Yeah, it’s all about self-control from now on I think. –Seven finished and everyone nodded.

A couple of minutes more passed and you wished they had kept talking because the waiting was getting unbearable. Your chest was hurting and tears were threatening to fall from your eyes. Seven that had been frozen until now, abruptly took his phone out of his pocket and dialed; everyone was so quiet that you could all hear the tone. 

No answer. Seven tried again waiting again until it sent him to voicemail. He sighed deeply and finally put his cellphone back in his pocket and closed with eyes placing two fingers on the bridge of his nose pushing his glasses up in the same motion. 

He was about to turn the lights on again, when you heard a knock on a side door. And sure enough Zen was there, his usual impeccable ponytail was messy and strands of hair were coming out of it. You saw his face glistening with sweat when Jumin finally opened the door to let him in. He was panting and his clothes were covered in dirt, but he had a satisfied smile on his face. You all sighed with relief.


	18. Chapter 18

-You almost gave all of us a heart attack, you crazy bastard! -said Seven laughing with relief while Zen got in the van and closed the door.

-Haha well, I also had to make sure that I was safe. Can you imagine how sad humanity will be without my existence?! –said Zen while fixing his shiny white hair.

Jaehee nodded agreeing while everyone else rolled their eyes but laughed. 

Seven turned on the lights and without delay hit the road once again. Zen started telling the story of how everything went; turns out he had taken the distress flare from one of Seven’s tool boxes back at the bunker’s garage. Also how he barely escaped some of them, especially when a couple got in the motorbike trying to push him off. You noticed that he would smile flirtingly to you every once in a while when you were turning from the front seat to listen more attentively, even when you were facing the road again, he would look at you using the upper rearview mirror. You started to wonder if he was trying to impress you, but you already knew the answer…

You were all now playing cards with a stack that Jumin had in his van; Zen and Jaehee were surprisingly good at playing and were winning every single time. At some point you were having so much fun that you even forgot what the road trip was for, how serious and complicated the situation was. They were all so wonderful and it made your heart feel full at how lucky you were for meeting them and how much you trusted them already. Even Yoosung that was still being awkward around you, you couldn’t blame him but you still felt so bad for him. 

 

The van was now silent, it had been a couple of hours. Seven turned on the radio and tried to find a station to listen to, but every single one he found had either white noise or incoherent distant words. He finally turned it off and turned slightly to look at you.

-How are you feeling, baby? –He asked making your stomach swirl at the pet name. 

-I’m good, but how about you? You’ve been driving for a while already; do you want to switch places with me? I’m feeling good enough to drive right now. 

He gave you a sweet, grateful smile and shook his head.

-It’s alright, Zen offered first when you doze off earlier. I think I’ll ask him now actually. 

-Sure –responded Zen from the back, he had apparently heard everything.

Seven stopped the car for a moment, so that him and Zen could change places, and then Yoosung and you too. Yoosung told the three of you that if he was not driving he wanted to be a copilot at least. 

Luciel and you were now sitting in the back row of seats, you grabbed a blanket that was lying around and curled yourself to the side lifting your feet up, then you decided to turn and rested your head on his shoulder, he placed his head on top of yours. You sighed feeling calm by the closeness and the rhythm of his breathing. 

-__ -He whispered lifting his head from yours- I wanted to show you this, I made it for you when I didn’t know if I was ever going to be able to meet you, when none of the algorithms were working and when nothing really made sense…

You didn’t know what he was talking about, until he placed his orange headphones over your ears and placed his cellphone on your hands, there was a video there ready for you to hit play. 

(Here’s the link for you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qm9R-ab_ae8) (*Credits on the notes)

You finished watching the video, and lowered the headphones while your chest started to feel tighter at the emotions growing inside of you, a tear finally rolled down your cheeks, when Saeyoung noticed this he placed kisses on both of your closed eyelids as he hugged you closer.

-I’ll never get tired of telling you how thankful I am that you accepted to come, that you trusted me this much. You're finally here with me and it's better than I had ever imagined. –He whispered only making you bury your face on his chest harder to muffle your sobs so that no one would hear you.

-Saeyoung…I…I don’t know what to say…I love you so much. –You said after you calmed down enough to talk. 

\- I love you, my rainbow girl... 

Outside of the window, the darkness of the forest was making the stars look closer even though how far away they really were from the top of the green trees, you could see the different constellations. Seven turned his gaze at the window too and started whispering to you the names and pointing at the ones that you were able to see at that moment. It was then that you remembered how much he loved the space, how much he loved looking at the clouds by day and the stars by night. This moment felt magical, ethereal and at the same time eternal. And despite of everything nothing could go wrong when you were in his arms having a moment like this. 

-__...-He said barely in a whisper, lowering his mouth closer to your ear. The beating of his heart was now going inexplicably faster– I…I know that I asked you this before, and is very important that you know that I never ever asked this to anyone else…it has always been you and no one else.

Rushing thoughts while your heart started to beat faster too. 

-You do-don’t have to answer right now. The-there’s no rush at all. –He said slightly stuttering, you lifted your head from his chest with your eyes wide open looking at his golden ones, your heart was now in your throat. 

His cheeks were the darkest red you had seen so far but he looked determined. He took a deep breath, took your cold hands between his warm ones and placed his forehead carefully on yours, your noses touching. 

-__... -He whispered, your name rolling sweetly from his lips making you shiver, his warm breath reaching yours- Will you...Will marry me at the space station? 

Your heart stopped and even though you knew exactly what he said, you didn’t believe your ears for a moment. You stayed silent and stopped…you stopped to think about everything, about nothing, about your feelings, the galaxy, about the stars, his eyes, the moon, his scent, his lips, constellations, his hair, nebulas, his laugh, the universe… 

You lifted your forehead from his and stared at him, he looked at you expectantly, his eyes were wet, hopeful, vulnerable…and that’s when you knew there was really nothing to think about. 

-Yes, Saeyoung…let’s marry at the space station…-You finally answered his eyes brighten up and happy tears started coming out of his eyes into your neck as he hugged you tight whispering over and over thank you to your ear.

-I-I didn’t get a ring! I’m so sorry, I didn’t have time and to be honest I was almost sure you were going to say no…B-but I will!! soon! and… -He said now starting to raise his voice, but you placed two fingers on his lips, gave him a sweet, calming smile and then leaned down to kiss him.

 

 

 

You opened your eyes slowly, the van had jumped from a bump on the road resulting in waking you up. You turned around to see Seven asleep with his head leaning on the window. Everything was still dark. You looked at the front and saw Jaehee and Jumin still asleep in different positions in the row in front of you. Zen was still calmly driving and Yoosung seemed to be still awake, at least thats what it looked like from there. 

You looked at the time on the stereo, it read 3:48, you were most likely getting very close, because you were originally planning to leave at midnight and ended up leaving two hours earlier. After a while of staring at the window, you felt Seven moving beside you and you turned to see him waking up with a smile, he streched his arms and yawned. You felt happy that he seemed rested. 

Soon enough, Jaehee and Jumin woke up too, they took water from the minibar and passed more bottles around. 

-I’m kind of hungry… -said Jaehee. Most of you nodded agreeing.

-There’s frozen food on the minibar -stated Jumin- and the microwave is inside of one of the doors on top. 

Jaehee nodded and started to open one after another revealing everything from another stereo, television and even a game console. 

-Whaaatt??!! You have a game console? –said Yoosung turning around from the front seat- I could have played LOLOL all the way there! 

-Oh my god, Yoosung –said Jaehee finally finding the microwave and placing one of the frozen meals inside- you have serious issues, please seek help as soon as this is over.

-Ugh, but we don’t even know if we’re gonna make it alive! At least I would like to enjoy the last hours or days of my existence –He answered. Everyone stayed silent and felt relief when the microwave finished. 

Jaehee started passing around the food and soon you were chatting happily. 

-…and then I took about ten pictures with Jumin like that. –said Seven.

-Luciel, I seriously can’t believe how childish you are sometimes. You are 22, start acting your age. –said Jumin annoyed.

-But I do! I was thinking just like businessmen do. Those photos are going to be for C&R’s holistic premium cat food marketing campaign. That way you won’t have to ask Zen!...although in the end he agreed to it.

-What are you talking about now? –Asked Zen turning briefly from the road to glance at him- You know I’m allergic to cats. 

-Hmm –said Jumin- That won’t even be such a bad idea, hiring Zen to do the cat commercials…but of course Elizabeth the third’s beauty is undoubtedly going to eclipse any attention that Zen gets. I wouldn’t be surprised if his fans start to be Elizabeth the third’s fans instead.

-My god! Does anyone actually listen to me when I’m saying I’m allergic!!? –said Zen angrily- And my fan would never abandon me for a fur ball.

Jaehee nodded enthusiastically 

-Okay, okay. Why don’t I change places with you again Zen? That way you can eat your meal. –said Seven putting the trash from his meal in a plastic bag. 

-This meal is way better than what I get in the school's cafeteria! –beamed Yoosung chewing. 

-Oh? I didn’t realize it was THAT bad. –said Jumin while Zen parked the van. 

-Ugh, I won’t even… –said Zen while changing place with Seven. You decided to stay in the back. Zen was now sitting beside you. 

-So, Seven. –Began Zen when Seven started driving- How far are we from…that place now?

-Mmm -said Luciel looking at the GPS on his cellphone- it looks like you were going off route for like 10 minutes. So it should be approximately 45 minutes from now. 

-Well –responded Zen kind of offended- if you had given me your cellphone instead of taking it to the back to watch videos...maybe I would have stayed on route. 

You blushed realizing he had seen that, you wondered if he had also heard anything…you saw Seven blushing too from the rearview mirror, he didn’t say anything else.

Everyone finished their meals in silence, and Seven took out his cellphone.

-I still have no reception- He said frowning at it- I wonder…

It was like he had just gotten a sudden thought or idea, maybe even a hunch. He turned on the radio again and started browsing through the frequencies. 

-Dude, are you still a hundred percent sure it’s safe to go to Saeran...to Mint Eye? I just keep getting this feeling…-said Yoosung beside him.

-I do! We’ve been over these already, guys. Please tru...-But he couldn’t finish. As soon as he glanced at the rode again from the stereo, he slammed his foot on the brake and the tires screeched on the dirt road, sending your heads to the front. 

To everyone’s horror a dark figure was standing there, Seven turned on the high beams and revealed the figure, it was a “person” with that characteristic creepy grin. Slowly but surely more dark figures started appearing around it, you all started to scream, while Seven reversed quickly and found a way around them. He was again dodging figures and trees.

-Yoosung! Search for a frequency where we can hear Saeran!!! –shouted Seven

-What?! How do you know we’re going to hear Saeran?!! –asked Yoosung confused and alarmed.

-Just do it!!!

Yoosung started pressing the buttons with trembling hands while everyone hold on to their seats for dear life. In a sharp turn, you leaned on Zen's body briefly and you could've swear that he shivered, but it might have been from surprise. You were shocked when you finally heard Saeran’s voice coming from the radio.

-I see you on the radar, you’re very close! But be careful because they are close too. I’m going to cause a diversion, Saeyoung head west. I repeat…–He repeated the same massage twice after that, but Seven had already understand it and was heading west. 

You didn’t know how much time had passed when you realized what Saeran meant by diversion. About 120 feet from where you were, there was an explosion. The sound and sight made you all jump from your seats. You briefly felt the heat from the explosion even from there.

-Okay! They are distracted, you don’t have much time look for the flashing light. I repeat…–said Saeran’s voice from the radio again. 

About another 100 feet left from where you were saw a big circled light going off and on from what looked like a tower. The building was surrounded by a fence with antennas on top, but you saw an entrance and Seven seemed to have noticed it too, because he turned to go that way fast. You didn’t want to look back, but you didn’t have to, you were hearing the voices and incoherent words so close again. You had kept wondering the entire ride how you had made it so far without being followed, or were you? 

Seven dodged a couple more trees and “people” until finally he passed the fence entrance, it closed immediately after you entered. Seven managed somehow to slow down the van after going that fast. But when you were almost about to come to a full stop, an unbearable sharp noise invaded your ears, making all of you cover them instinctively with your hands. And whe you started to feel like you were going to lose your mind, it finally stopped. All of you took your hands from your ears groaned while massaging your head, the noise had left you a headache. 

-Wha-what was that? –said Zen massaging his temples.

-My apologies –came the voice of Saeran from the radio- I imagine you just heard that sharp noise, it's necessary for security reasons. I’ll explain everything in a moment, I’m coming down.

The transmission stopped and Seven turned it off sighing in relief.

-We’re finally here, safe. –He said.

-Barely! –said Zen scoffing- what’s with you Choi brothers and your “security reasons”?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I DIDN'T MAKE THE VIDEO.  
> Credits for the Youtube video to username: Yasu ITOK.  
> This is their channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChCSIQiAQWrG6qwFHa6R6EA/featured
> 
> I just thought it went well with this chapter and story. :)


	19. Chapter 19

Seven just chuckled and unbuckled his seatbelt. All of you finally being able to take your breath back. But, your heart could not stop beating in your chest, Saeran had said he was coming down to greet you and you didn’t know what to expect, because of everything that had happened in the last couple of hours, you hadn’t even really stop and think how he would be like or even if you were remotely scared of him…

Everyone got out of the van and started to unload their stuff, you followed after a couple of seconds to do the same. When you got out of the van, you were impressed by the castle developing in front of you; it was way bigger than you thought by looking at one 2D image in the game. It was a silver-like white with a big brown gate up front, several windows with navy blue curtains. Your sight kept going upwards when you finally saw the dome-like mint roof, there were also white towers around with pointy mint roofs. 

You could still hear the roars and voices from the other side of the tall fence and it was creepy to say the least. You saw again on top of the fence the several antennas; some of them had flicking lights for who knows what. 

You passed your backpack over your shoulder, when you heard a familiar voice in front of the van. You peeked your head to one side and your eyes took a minute to process what you were seeing. Standing there were two redheads, one of them was of course Seven giving you his back with his yellow glasses and hoodie, but if you didn’t know this already your sight would have been even more confused. In front of Seven, facing you was Saeran…He had the exact same red hair that Seven did, face structure, skin color, they were almost the same height, if anything Seven was a little taller than him. But of course his eyes were different, Saeran’s eyes were aqua (or mint?) and he wasn’t wearing any glasses or hoodie, he had a simple black sweater on him, the sweater was not so different from the one that you saw he was wearing in that last group photo at the end of the game. 

Your stomach swirled when suddenly Saeran’s eyes noticed you, he open them slightly when he seemed to recognize you, but then he closed them for a second and opened again them to keep talking to Seven leaving you wondering. You secured the backpack on your shoulders and seeing that everyone else had their stuff already, you closed the trunk. Everyone was already surrounding Seven and Saeran when you finally approached them too and could hear what they were talking about.

-…We should go inside, it’s not safe to stay here, they might hear what we are saying. –said Saeran and Seven nodded.

Everyone followed the twins towards the breath-taking Mint Eye castle, you could feel how everyone was somehow hesitant about going in there, but you really didn’t have any other options. You felt bad when thinking how traumatized everyone was because of that place, especially Jumin…you tried to look at him out of the corner of your eyes, but you couldn’t read much about him besides that his jaw was looking rather tense. Sadness washed over you when you remembered he had lost his best friend in there and that he even had to step up to make sure everything got arranged while at the same time securing everyone’s safety and well-being. You wish you could tell him something…maybe you could do that later.

You were now standing just outside the castle’s gate. Saeran took out a black card and slide it on a small device beside the door knobs. The device peeped and showed a green light before opening. The tall gates opened revealing an equally breath-taking lobby with a big shiny marble staircase in front of you, you walked inside and marveled at everything with the others. Saeran walked to the back making you tense when you thought he was approaching you, your eyes met briefly before he passed you to close the gates, your shoulders relaxed again.

-I’m going to show you your rooms so everyone can get settled, also the dinner is ready. –said Saeran simply. 

His overall mood was completely opposite from Saeyoung’s which was bizarre to watch because of how similar they looked, Saeran’s voice was lower and his expressions were hard to read. You went up the staircase and arrived at a long beautiful corridor; you could tell there must have been frames hanging on the walls before because of the squared-like discolored parts on them. There were a couple of Victorian era chairs along it and even though lights were hanging from the ceiling, it was still dim-lighted. There were several doors on that corridor and at some point Saeran stopped.

-Feel free to pick any room you want, I’ll be waiting at the dining room downstairs. –Saeran said again very simply. His voice sounded calm but his face was serious, he didn’t really show much else.

-Thank you –said everyone at different times. Seven gave him a wide smile. 

Saeran nodded politely and turned around to walk back to the lobby.

You were looking at Saeran's back walking away, when Seven took your hand excitingly and to your surprise pulled you to the biggest door.

-This is ours!!! –He beamed while opening the door. Everyone rolled their eyes but you giggled

-It really doesn’t matter, Luciel –said Jumin.

It does for me! See you later guys –He said pulling you inside, you managed to give an apologetic face to everyone before he closed the door.

You both placed your backpacks on the white carpeted floor and looked around, the walls were also white and there was a bed with turquoise covers on it. You saw a beautiful wooden dressing table on one corner, there were two lamps on top of two bedside tables and Seven walked up and opened what seemed to be a private bathroom.

-We have a tub, how cool is that? I once tried a bath bomb that was called intergalactic and it formed nebulas in my bathtub and… –He said looking at you smiling, his smile faded away when he saw your face.

-Seven…this is not a vacation remember?–you said as gently as possible. 

You were happy he was somehow having fun still in this situation, but there was not going to be any time for games. He nodded now half-smiling.

-True…

 

You had both changed your clothes and were ready to go downstairs for dinner; you noticed you kept checking your hair when you would pass by the dressing table while pacing around the room waiting for Seven. You were feeling somewhat anxious and you didn’t know why.

-Saeyoung, I’m going to wait outside for you –You said. 

-Okay…are you alright? –He said looking up to see you; he was putting on his shoes. You tried your best to seem normal even though you knew he could read you.

-Yup –You said turning around quickly to open the door so he couldn’t stare at you too long; you closed the door behind you sighing. 

When you opened your eyes you saw Jumin in front of you, he was wearing a clean shirt and tie, he seemed refreshed and his hands were elegantly placed inside the front pockets of his suit pants. You blushed.

-How are you feeling, lady? –He said. 

-Please, Jumin. Call me, __

-Very well, __... –He said smiling, it was probably the first time you saw him smiling.

-I’m okay, still a bit shocked…but well enough. –You responded.

-Good, good –He said nodding satisfied.

-How about you? –You asked.

-Me? –He said slightly opening his eyes- I…am good, thank you for asking. 

An awkward silence grew between the two of you, you were still alone in the hallway when you decided to speak up again.

-Jumin… -He directed his gaze at you again- I… I still don’t know much about what really happened here...but I want to tell you how sorry I am about....well, I’m sorry about your loss…

He looked at you for some seconds making you wonder if it had been a bad idea to tell him that

-Thank you, __…you are very kind. –He said finally taking his grey eyes from yours. You decided to look someplace else too so that he wouldn’t get uncomfortable, but you could have sworn you saw his jaw relax.

Saving the moment, Jaehee came out of her room. She was wearing a pencil skirt, but just like Jumin she was not wearing a suit jacket, she had a cute pink blouse on. You smiled at her and she smiled back politely. 

Zen, Yoosung and finally Seven came out from their rooms with fresh clothes too, Zen was even looking glowy, almost as if he hadn’t slept badly in a van and passed a traumatic experience. Everyone started walking to the lobby without saying anything. You went down the beautiful staircase and walked to the left where Saeran had told you. Seven, that was leading the way opened the tall door that squeaked. He went inside with the rest of you following.

-Wow –said Yoosung looking around.

The dining room looked like it had been taken out of a fairy tale. A large light wooded table was placed along the room, on top of it were already quite a few plates with delicious looking food, candles and vases full of red roses, behind it were big windows with long navy blue curtains covering them, the floor was marble with a squared pattern combination of mint and white, you had noticed by now that those two were the recurring colors. You were wondering why it was so beautifully decorated while looking at one of the flower vases, when someone whispered in your ear, making it vibrate. 

-Do you like them? I brought them for you –You jumped at the low sensual voice, for a moment you thought it had been Saeyoung until you finished turning around and saw a pair of aqua eyes under the red hair. 

You immediately blushed and your heart started racing like never before, your words caught up in your throath not knowing what to answer but apparently Saeran wasn’t expecting you to because he just smirked and walk a few steps forward addressing all of you now.

-Feel free to seat down and get comfortable. –He said and everyone turned to look at him just realizing he was there.

You all sat down, some still looking around probably also confused as to why it all looked so elegant, your breathing was just slowering down and your ear in which Saeran whispered was still sensitive and warm like the rest of your face “…I brought them for you” what had he meant by that? 

Saeran started serving himself when he realized everyone was just looking at him.

-Please…-He said nodding at the food.

Yoosung didn’t need anything else to be said as he started serving himself. Slowly everyone else followed.

-Thank you, brother. You have no idea how much I appreciate this –said Saeyoung while starting to chew on a piece of food- Oh my god…did you make this? 

-haha I did actually –said Saeran surprisingly smiling, his smile was so different from Seven’s.

-I didn’t know you were such a good cook!! Although, we haven’t had much time for that, we’ve been ordering mostly take out haha…-said Saeyoung, his smile lowering.

You were sitting in front of the twins trying your best not to look at them for some reason, everytime you would slightly look anywhere near Saeran your stomach would swirld almost painfully, what was happening?. After a while no one was really saying anything and it was becoming uncomfortable just hearing the sounds of the cutlery clashing 

-So, um…-started Zen and everyone turned to look at him- Thank you for the hospitality and all, Saeran…But, that’s not really the reason why we’re here. 

He said looking a bit annoyed, everyone went quiet and turned to look at Saeran. He placed his fork and knife beside the plate and calmly wiped his mouth with a napkin. 

-Of course –said Saeran without losing one bit of composture- We have a lot to talk about.

Let’s see…-He said while lifting his cup and taking a sip of wine, he had delicate and calculated moves- I guess we should start by talking about what we already know…

Everyone in the room was silent as they had seemingly forgotten that there was food in front of them. 

Luciel started explaining how he had finally managed to bring you to this dimension, how he worked with the algorithms, what you experienced when crossing and how your universe was not that different from this one, except that it was, well real. He explained how the programs started acting at the bubble tea store, how Yoosung had found you, the glitch car on the street, how hard it was for him to convince everyone about it all using their memories and the attraction to you as proof, how Yoosung had turned into Yandere mode but you were able to stop him (in that moment Yoosung buried himself a bit on his seat), how we was already sure that all of them were real because they had broken that barrier and of course the programs going crazy and following you. 

Saeran payed attention to everything and nodded, although he was looking at Seven the whole time you could feel like he would once in a while look at you from the corner of his eyes ever so slightly.

When Saeyoung finished, Saeran nodded one last time.

-Okay…now let me tell you what I know...First, no one in this dimension is a program.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the short chapter, you guys! I've been incredibly busy these days with a new job. I'll make it up to you and post a long chapter on Monday. Please let me know what you think ;) Have a great weekend!


	20. Chapter 20

-What?...What do you mean? -asked Seven perplexed.

-It’s just like that. No one in this dimension is a program. –Saeyoung’s face and everyone’s for that matter had confusion written all over. Saeran continued calmly.

-You even said it yourself a moment ago; you said that you were sure that all of the RFA is real because they were able to break the barrier. And that’s exactly it, when you break the barrier it doesn’t mean that you become real, it just means that you realize you are. 

Saeyoung’s face was now turning from confusion to realization. Saeran seemed to read his expression too. 

-Yes, so all of those…things outside of the fence are actual people, real people. 

-Oh My God…-Seven said placing a hand on his crucifix. 

-How can they be?! I saw them up close; those things didn’t have human movements, expressions…or feelings –said Zen.

-That’s because their brain washing process has been fully completed –said Saeran- I believe you were all able to reverse it because of my brother. First the game allowed him to wake up a certain bit on purpose so he could bring someone to this dimension, then he woke me up and the game wasn’t planning that I would too, and of course the game didn’t expect us to go this far in investigation and action against it…but they forgot we are geniuses. That’s why now it’s trying to stop us. 

-The antennas you saw outside –he continued- I implemented them along with other devices for staying away of their radar sort to speak, that’s why you heard the pitching noises when you entered, if you have been under Cheritz power still as a program, you would be…deactivated. 

Everyone gulped. 

-And the people outside…can we still help them? –asked Yoosung mortified. 

-As I said, their brain washing process is completed, so unfortunately no. –answered Saeran.

-And how do you know all of this? –asked Jumin from the other side of the table lifting an eyebrow, there was suspicion in his voice.

-Observation, trial and error. –said Saeran, making you freeze thinking about what he meant by that. 

-The-there’s something that still isn’t clear to me –spoke Seven again- if all of us and all of those people outside are real people…why can’t they feel any pain? I ran over one and it was just fine, it even tried to stop us grabbing itself to the window. 

-That’s because they have completely lost contact with their real body –answered Saeran.

-Their real body?...But I tried to go to __’s dimension and my conclusion was that…-began Saeyoung. 

-That you didn’t have a human host body, well you do -interrupted Saeran- and it’s not just a host body, all of our REAL bodies (including the ones of the “people”) are in the Cheritz headquarters in the real world.

For a moment it felt like all of the air from your lungs had disappeared, the tension in the air became so thick that you could cut it with a knife. No one said anything for what felt like ages. Before you could stop yourself, you spoke up.

-Does that mean that Cheritz…?

-Yes, Cheritz has your body now too __ -responded Saeran, despite being terrified about what he had just said, it was the first time he said your name, it made you feel odd…

-Now –he continued- I know this must sound insane to you right now, but I believe that if we work together, we’ll be able to return to the real world. I’ve been working for days now, and I have many data to back all of this. 

Saeyoung nodded, but everyone else stayed silent. Saeran sighed.

-I realize this is a big chunk of information, so I’ll give you guys a moment…I’ll be back –He said and stood up from his chair walking calmly to a door. 

As soon as he closed the door behind him, everyone but you and Saeyoung started talking at the same time.

-Okay, okay. Let’s all calm down for a moment –said Saeyoung trying to restore order- I know how you are feeling, I know it’s still hard for you to trust him…but let’s give him a chance please. You guys have no idea how much he has changed, how much he has gone back to be my little brother again…

-That’s the problem –said Jaehee- I don’t mean to be offensive, Luciel. But you trust him because he is your brother and we only have your word. We haven’t get to know him enough to trust him as much. How are we going prove that what he is saying is true? 

-Look –began Seven, you could see he was trying to find the right words- I’ll analyze very carefully the evidence he has, you don’t have to trust him blindly as you didn’t have to trust myself blindly. You heard him…he has most likely proof this entire hypothesis to be true with a lot of data. Please, I only ask you to have more faith; so far you’ve seen everything has turned out to be true. With this we are just getting closer to a solution, to a way to get out of here. It’s time we come together and forget the past. 

Saeyoung looked at them expectantly, they turned to look at each other their faces were still showing some hesitation but they nodded. 

-Thank you –smiled Seven.

You could feel how everyone eased down a bit; they were such an amazing group of people that supported each other through good and bad times, they really felt like family and you were starting to feel part of that family too. After some minutes, everyone started chatting more calmly reassuring themselves that it was all going to go well. 

Saeran then came back to the dining room and everyone adjusted on their seats again. He was carrying a large tray full of what seemed like desserts of all kinds; pies, cakes, ice cream. He placed the tray on the table.

-Um…I don’t know about you guys, but I’ve always felt better eating dessert. –He said scratching the back of his head and surprisingly blushing. It was the first time you saw him the least bit vulnerable. 

Everyone turn to look at each other once again and then nodded, some of them even started laughing. The tension in the air eased even more. You started laughing too, it was as if everyone really needed that. Everything was going to be okay.

You all started chatting more animatedly while serving yourselves all types of delicious desserts: cake, ice cream, cookies, pie etc. everything was delicious. You noticed excitedly, that there was even your favorite dessert on the table which was ___. You served yourself happily and started to taste a piece of it, when you felt as if someone was staring at you. 

You brought your eyes up and to your dismay; Saeran was looking directly at you, his mint eyes piercing you. You felt everything else disappearing when a smirk appeared on his lips and you couldn’t ever have guessed what came after. He ate the rest of the strawberry ice cream left on his spoon and then licked his upper lip slowly, you nervously looked at Saeyoung on his side, but he was too busy talking to Yoosung.

Saeran’s eyes were not leaving you when he placed the spoon in front of his mouth and started licking it along slowly. You couldn’t take your eyes off the movements of his tongue, a dark blush came to your cheeks when you felt how you started to pool in between your legs, the movements of his tongue were long and painfully slow, he kept taking more strawberry ice cream and repeating the same ordeal, until you felt dizzy. A voice made you jump and come back to your senses.

-__, __? –It was Jaehee, you turned around startled to see her.

-Y-yes? –you responded.

-Can you pass me the strawberry ice cream? –she said

-U-uh…-you started looking at Saeran hesitant.

-It’s alright, I’ll eat more later. –He said smirking at you before turning to pass Jaehee the ice cream. 

Everyone looked at you when you abruptly stood up from your chair.   
-…please excuse me. –You managed to say before storming out of the dining room. 

As soon as you were in the lobby again, you started running up the staircase to your room. You closed the door behind you and leaning over it, sliding yourself to the floor and hugging your legs. 

Your heart was in your throat, the painful swirl in your stomach was back and it only became worse as you stopped and felt how wet you really were, how hot your insides were feeling. With your eyes closed, you couldn’t stop thinking about Saeran, about the way he had looked at you, his lips, his tongue…

You shook your head trying to dismiss what your head was thinking, you forced yourself to think about Saeyoung, but it only made it worse. Thinking about Saeyoung, his face, his hair, his body, only made you think about Saeran again because of how similar they were. You felt somehow…dirty.

You finally managed to get up from the floor and you threw yourself on the bed burying your face on the pillow. You way calmer when someone entered the room, you lifted your head to see Saeyoung standing by the door.

-Are you okay, __? You basically stormed out of the dining room. –He asked you worriedly. Should you tell him?

-I am okay, Saeyoung thank you. I am just very tired. –You said and he nodded.

-Yeah…I am too –He then yawn and stretch his arms to the ceiling- I think we should sleep for a while, this “dinner” was actually more like breakfast. It’s already sunrise. 

You nodded. He took off his shoes and crawled on the bed with you, he passed his arms around your waist from the back and brought you closer; he then buried his face in your neck. You felt warm and comfortable, you thoughts seemed to give you a break and before you knew it you fell asleep.

 

When you woke up, Seven was gone. There was not a clock or cellphone around to check the time, but the light outside gave you a vague idea of what time it was, it looked like noon, apparently you had overslept. You sat straight on the bed and sighed stretching your neck, you were feeling well rested. 

You then decided it would probably be a good idea to take a shower, so you went in the bathroom and undressed. You turned on the shower and adjusted the temperature until it reached a comfortable hot temperature. You jumped in and closed the curtain. The bathtub you were standing in was beautiful and vintage sitting in the middle of the large white, squeaky-clean bathroom. 

You saw a bar of soap on the edge of the tub and started rubbing it along your body making your worries melt away with the foam. You absentmindedly reached between your legs, the incident from hours earlier came to your head when you discovered the wetness that was still pooled in between your legs. You started rubbing in to clean it all away, but you couldn’t stop thinking about Saeran…”I’ll eat more later” he had said. Your mind drifted away thinking about what he had meant by that and before you knew it you were taking more time than necessary washing yourself. 

The way he had licked his soft plumped lips came find a way in your mind again, the way his eyes were not leaving yours when he licked along the spoon up and down slowly, over and over. You kept washing but it was becoming more and more useless, it was never clean enough and your mind was lost beyond reasoning. A quiet soft moan left your lips when you decided to play with your nipples with the other hand, how would it be to feel Saeran’s hands on them? How much different would his hands be from Seven’s. You shot your head back losing yourself on the sensations going through your body. Your eyes tightly closed when you finally felt it, you let yourself got lost on it while thinking about his mint eyes…

 

You got dressed and looked at yourself in the mirror of the dressing table. You sat down in front of it and fixed your hair. Then you remembered how you hadn’t really used makeup in so much time. So, you took out from the backpack some of the makeup you had picked at the agency’s closet and you looked at yourself in the mirror while applying ___ on yourself. You smiled at your reflection.

You got out of the room feeling refreshed and happy and decided to explore the castle. You didn’t hear any voices near when you passed beside the staircase that lead to the lobby. You kept walking straight instead, so you could stay on the second floor going into a large unexplored corridor. There were more elegant chairs and tables alongside it, you even noticed that some of the paintings there weren't removed, but you also noticed that the theme of all of them was very simple; it was generally just common nature painting. 

You approached a slightly open door on the corridor, you peeked inside and discovered with awe what looked like an elegant personal-sized library, you opened the door without thinking much about it, you were mesmerized by the red-wooded bookshelves packed with thick books. 

You approached what seemed like a collection of an old encyclopedia, you ran your finger along the gold-dusted pages on top and read the titles; “101 magical herbs”, “The book of plants” “Rare mushrooms and its medical benefits” etc. but your eyes stopped in a black book that was smaller than the others, it didn't have a title, it seemed to be just plain black, it looked so mysterious, so out of place that you wanted to discover the contents of it. 

You pulled it out of the bookshelf and were about to open it, when suddenly an unsuspected hand find its way gently to your waist. You jumped and turned around only to feel your eyes grew bigger at what they were seeing. There with a calm expression and lips slightly parted was Saeran.

-Hello, __ -He said- I’m sorry I startled you. Were you exploring? 

His eyes were not leaving yours, so you only managed to nod probably more enthusiastically than necessary.

-I see –Then to your surprise, he slipped the book delicately out of your hands- I’m sorry but this book cannot be read so lightly. Maybe we can talk about it some other time…why don’t you sit down with me; I was having my afternoon tea.

He placed the book back in its spot and signaled an elegant reading space with long sofas and armchairs. A set of tea was on it and hot steam was going up from one of the cups. You nodded again without knowing what else to do.

You sat down in a sofa in front of him; he proceeded to serve you tea in that calm way of his and then took his cup, crossed his legs elegantly and stared at you again taking a sip out of his cup. You were frozen in your seat so to do something with your hands, you took the cup in front of you and put it in between your hands feeling the heat and allowing the delicious smell to relax you.

-So, how are you finding everything so far, is the room according to your liking? –Saeran asked. 

-U-um –you cleared your throat- it is, thank you.

-I’m glad, I really want you to feel comfortable... you know? I really like the room you’re staying in, especially the bathroom... It was always one of my favorite places to take baths and showers in the castle. 

You gulped.

-Oh...- You finally managed to say, did he know something? That was impossible, but now you couldn’t stop the blush covering your cheeks just thinking about what you had done in the shower thinking…well, thinking about him. He gave you a calmed poised smiled, but that didn’t stop your heart from its fast beating. 

-So, __ -Your named rolled out of his lips in such a way that it made you shiver- Saeyoung is checking out data in the computer room. I wanted to take a moment to rest so I came here, would you like to visit the gardens with me? I think the rest of the RFA is outside too. It’s a beautiful day. 

You nodded.


	21. Chapter 21

You placed your tea cup on the table, when you lifted your head Saeran was now standing in front of you while you were still sitting down. You froze when he lowered his face near yours and you widened your eyes when he lifted his right hand to caress your lower lip with his thumb. Your eyes opened in surprise. 

-Sorry, there was a drop of tea about to roll down from your lip. –Then your eyes grew ever wider when he sucked on that same thumb.

-Mmm, Darjeeling tea is definitely my favorite. –Your nerves were acting on you, you were still frozen on your seat. 

Having Saeran so close to your face that you could feel his breathing, was definitely making you have racing thoughts crossing in your head, incapable of thinking let alone saying anything coherent. You could have sworn he had started to lower down even closer to your face, when you reacted; you slided yourself to the side of the sofa and stood up quickly beside him. It seemed to take a second for him to process your movements, but then he stood up straight again and turned calmly at you.

-u-uhh…I would like to go see Saeyoung instead, he gets so immerse in his work sometimes that he forgets to take care of himself, even simple things like drinking enough water. –“Good escape tactic” you thought to yourself.

Saeran smiled softly at you.

-That’s very nice of you –He said- We shall go see him them. Please, follow me.

He then proceeded to walk to the door you had come through. The hallway was quiet; the only sound was that of your muffled steps on the carpeted floor while you followed Saeran. You were actually happy that you didn’t go outside the castle after all, even if Saeran had said it was a beautiful day, you imagined that even in the garden you would still be able to hear the voices of the “people” outside. 

After a long awkward walk, when the whole time you were just looking at Saeran’s back, he stopped at a door that looked just identical to the others. Saeran knocked twice on it.

-Come in! –Said the voice of Saeyoung from the inside, and you felt your body easing.

Saeran opened the door for you and signaled politely with his arm.

-Thank you –You said passing beside him going inside of the room.

You were instantly both amazed and freaked out by the room. It was again another one of those things that you had only seen through your cellphone. The black room full of servers in the walls, was also full of computers everyone, the screens were all stacked up to almost reaching the ceiling and around, all had blue coding on them. There was a big black chair behind the big desk in which Saeyoung was sitting, the room was so dark that you couldn’t see Saeyoung’s eyes because of the reflection of the screens on his glasses. When Saeran entered after you, Saeyoung turned his head your way.

-Oh, hi there my earthling. –He said opening his arms for you, you happily obliged and walked up to him letting him place both of his hands on your waist. He looked up at you smiling- You are so beautiful…did you put something on your eyes?

You blushed and nodded happy that he had noticed. 

-You are going to make me all distracted here… –He said caressing your waist. Saeran suddenly cleared his throat, making both of you look at him.

\- __ wanted to come to check on you, how is everything going? –You noticed the change on his voice, was it jealousy?

-Is that so?...–Seven said smiling at you and then starting to tickle you, making you giggle instantly.

-I asked you a question –said Saeran now sounding slightly annoyed.

-Oh, right sorry –Saeyoung said reluctantly taking his hands from your waist and directing his attention to the screen again- Well, everything seems to make sense, your algorithms, the abstractions, conditionals, iterations…I just have a question…

-Yes? –said Saeran lifting an eyebrow.

-What’s with all the data you were decomposing in here?...it doesn’t even look like just data. –said Seven pointing at one specific block of coding on the screen.

-Those are the experiments I was talking about earlier –He answered.

-Okay…and how did you do those “experiments”? –asked Seven turning the chair to look at him and crossing his arms over his chest.

-I used the rest of the programs.

-What do you mean the rest of the programs? 

-The “people”, I used them.

Saeyoung and you stayed silent. A cold shiver went down your spine imagining what he really meant by that.

-Saeran…why?! –said Seven alarmed after a couple of seconds- You said it yourself, they are actual people! 

-They are not anymore, I told you. And the only reason I know that is because of those experiments. –He answered.

-That doesn’t make it right, Saeran. You could…oh my god…you could have used other methods, I don’t know! 

-Exactly, I don’t know either! Besides, you were just telling me earlier how anxious and disappointed you were on yourself, because you promised __ she could come back to her world anytime. You even told me how you could do anything for her! Now you’re complaining about this…I did what was necessary. –Finished Saeran leaving a deadly silence on the room.

Seven seemed taken aback for a few seconds, and then he passed a hand through his hair anxiously sighing. You felt you needed to tell him something, to comfort him in some way but before you could reach out to him, he turned around on his chair to look at the screens again. Your hand was suspended mid-air for a second before you decided to lower it down to your side again. 

-Saeyoung…-you began.

-It’s okay, __...I need to work on this –He said without looking at you- I did promise you would be able to return to your world…I am doing this for you, but also for all of us. 

He was being cold and you did not like it one bit. You knew Seven did this sometimes, especially if he felt something was his responsibility and in this case, you suspected he even felt it was his fault…

-Okay, I’ll let you work…but please remember to eat something not just chips and drink enough water okay? 

-…Okay, don’t worry baby –He said trying to sound reassuring, but still not turning around to see you.

You sighed. You could always come back later, maybe he just needed time…

-I guess we can go to the gardens now to meet the others –You told Saeran resigned.

 

The gardens were behind the castle, you were impressed by how bigger the place was compared to what you had originally thought. The fence extended well beyond them and you wondered if it had always been like that or if Saeran was able to put them up the few days he was here. You thought again about what had just happened in the computer room, it was true that the “people” were not real anymore, but stil like Seven had said it still didn’t make it okay and honestly you didn’t even know how to feel about it. 

You looked at Saeran that was now walking beside you out of the corner of your eyes, he still had that calmed expression on himself, one that you knew now was normal on him. It was hard for you to imagine him having a mental breakdown like the one Seven had mentioned, but at the same time you knew how he was inside of the game…

Suddenly Saeran also looked at you out of the corner of his eyes and you immediately directed your sight to the floor again. You started seeing yellow flowers on the green grass, you looked up and marveled at the beds of multi-colored flowers you were seeing, then you noticed the rest of the RFA sitting at what seemed like large and comfortable white garden chairs and sofas. 

You were about to wave at them, when you got distracted at what was behind of them. What you initially thought were just tall bushes was actually a huge and impressive labyrinth garden surrounded by more beautiful flowers of different colors everywhere. You peeked to the side trying to see how long it was but you couldn’t figure it out. 

-Hello __! –said Yoosung enthusiastically waving at you. You were happy that he see him talking to you normally again.

-Hello, Yoosung. Hi everyone. –You said smiling at them, they smiled back at you. The mood felt completely different than last night, the vibe felt positive and cheerful. It was maybe the effect of that beautiful garden and how it all seemed to be so far from the problems you were facing.

-I know, that labyrinth is so impressive. We were just talking about it. –said Zen seemingly noticing how you kept looking at the labyrinth- I haven’t seen anything like it before.

-It is truly beautiful, but I must admit that I’ve had in fact seen more impressive ones. I once went to visit the queen Elizabeth in beautiful England and she took me to one of her Scotland castles. It was such a delightful experience. –said Jumin.

-You do realize now that it was not really queen Elizabeth, right? –said Zen with a chuckle obviously trying to tease him.

-Maybe... or maybe those are glimpses of my real life. –answered Jumin.

-Yeah, whatever –said Zen dismissing him.

-So, __ how was you nap? –asked Jaehee while you sat down beside her, you blushed realizing that everyone apparently knew you had been sleeping all morning.

-It was good, thank you. –You said- Did you guys rest?

Everyone nodded. 

-We were just now enjoying some of the things we found in the kitchen, like this delicious tea cookies and this fine Darjeeling tea that Saeran told us about. It is truly something else. Would you like some? –said Jumin leaning forward on his seat as to serve you a cup. You remembered that Darjeeling tea…

-Um…I’m good, Jumin. But thank you –You answered.

-Of course –said Jumin.

Saeran finally sat down beside Yoosung infront of you.

-Maybe __ is like me and she doesn’t like these rich people drinks. Maybe she wants a beer, do you have any beer in here, Saeran? –asked Zen looking at him.

-I’m sorry, I don’t –He responded and Zen sighed. 

-I’m seriously good. But thank you. –You told Zen and he nodded.

-So…-began Saeran when everyone went quiet again- We still have more time to kill while Saeyoung finishes checking all the data and coding. Would you like to explore the labyrinth?


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! I always feel so happy reading your comments and I treasure every single one of them. As I said last time I've been buried in work since getting this new job a couple of weeks ago, but I will continue to upload once or ideally twice a week. Thank you for being patient with me!! I hope you like this chapter, Enjoy!
> 
> Elena xo

-um…explore the labyrinth? –said Yoosung beside him.

-Yes…that place is rather fun. –said Saeran.

-Fun in what sense? –asked Zen suspiciously

-Well, it’s a labyrinth it’s of course fun to try and find the exit. –He answered

Everyone remained silent; Jumin and Zen even lifted an eyebrow. You knew that if Saeyoung was there he would be feeling sad that no one was really trusting Saeran, not even to do something fun. You thought about the incident in the library and the one at dinner...but also you knew that pretty much none of them could control the attraction they felt for you. So making up your mind, you decided to speak up.

-I…I think it could be fun. –You said.

Saeran looked up at you and smiled softly. Everyone else looked at you surprised, then they looked at each other, seemingly trying to see what the other thought now that you had spoken.

-…Okay, if our dear __ wants to, I think we should do it –said Zen speaking first- but I would like to go with her, so I can protect her.

-What are you going to protect her from exactly? –said Jumin irritated- if anything we should protect her from you. 

-I don’t know…-said Zen sarcastically placing his palm on his jaw- maybe I could protect her from running into rich douchebags like yourself.

-Guys, guys –said Yoosung raising his palms- calm down, we could all go together.

-Actually –began Saeran and they all stopped to look at him- the labyrinth has several entrances and the “corridors” are so narrow only one person can fit. We could all walk in a line of course, but it would take the fun out of it. 

-The exit is on the middle –He continued- there are stairs that will get you underground and from there you’ll walk in a tunnel that leads to the lobby of the castle, I’m sure Saeyoung will be done by then. How about we say that the first one that gets there wins?

-Um…win what? –asked Yoosung timidly.

-Well…We can think about that later. –Then he glanced quickly at you, it had been so subtle that you had probably imagined it. 

-Okay, let’s do this! –said Zen now excited. 

Everyone looked hesitant for a minute more, but then they shrugged their shoulders and nodded. 

-Excellent. Then, follow me. We’ll pick our entrances. –said Saeran standing up and starting to walk to the maze. Everyone else followed.

You approached the tall walls of the labyrinth; it definitely looked more impressive up close. The now intimidating corridor, was definitely just good for one person, and from that perspective you couldn’t see anything else than the green grass below and the tall green bushes that made for walls. 

-Okay, let’s let the ladies choose first. __, Jaehee, Who wants to pick this one? –Saeran asked looking at both of you.

-um…I guess I will –She said after looking at you, maybe it was the hesitant expression in your face that made her pick first. 

She took her heels off and started walking slowly but surely on the grass. You were starting to worry about this whole idea, but then she turned around and smiled.

-The grass is so soft. I love walking barefoot on it like this, it’s been a while -She said and then she turned to the front again. 

-Why do you exploit her so much, Jumin? She gets happy that she is outside! –asked Zen annoyed.

-I don’t exploit her, she gets paid fairly. How many times do I have to…-said Jumin stopping himself sighing.

Then you walked to the next corridor, Saeran asked now all of you, and you decided to pick this time. You felt excited when you entered, you started walking and slowly the voices of everyone started to fade. After a while you turned around and couldn’t see them anymore, you kept walking and felt how the smell of fresh cut grass enveloped you. The sun was still above you and somehow everything made you feel peaceful and happy. 

For a while the only sound was that of your footsteps in the grass, the birds and the small bugs in the bushes. You started going left and right, trying to pick the exact corridor to go to the middle of the labyrinth. You kept trying to draw a circle in your head, because that’s how the labyrinth had seemed to you from the outside, so you kept aiming at that point in your head. 

You were now walking while passing your hand playfully over the bushes, when suddenly you cut your finger. 

-Ouch! –you said while stopping to look at it, it was just a small pinch, one that a needle would make but it had caught you by surprise. 

You sucked on your finger trying to stop the blood, and then looked to see what had pinched you. And surely it had been a branch with thorns. You rolled your eyes at yourself and kept walking. But then, you noticed that the more you walked, the more thorns were developing in place of the walls. 

You stopped and looked around you and up, to your horror all of the green walls of bushes were being replaced by the thorn branches in front of your eyes, you saw how they were growing and curling in front of you now as if they wanted to block your path. 

You backed your steps horrified and turned around to run in the direction that you had come from. You kept running but you couldn’t find the last turn you had been in. Anxiety was growing bigger and bigger in your stomach, when suddenly you saw Yoosung face to face. He opened his lilac eyes in surprise when he saw you running towards him.

-__? –He said. 

-Run! –You said, but he didn’t seem to react, so you grabbed his hand and pulled him with you.

-What’s happening?! –He said, but you didn’t have to answer because he looked back and saw what was after you.

The branches kept growing faster and you didn’t know how much longer you would be able to keep running, you were starting to run out of breath. Then an idea crossed you, you looked to your side and noticed that the walls you were passing by were still thorn free for a couple of seconds, you looked back and calculated how much time you would need. 

You pulled Yoosung harder so he could run faster too, then when you knew you were far from the branches by a good distance, you grabbed Yoosung closer and jumped to throw both of yourselves through the wall of bushes. You closed your eyes for a moment, hearing the thorn-less branches pressing at your body. You pushed yourself and Yoosung through harder forwards until you collapse on the grass finally on the other side. 

Yoosung was beside you on the grass, his face had almost hit the grass as well yours, both of you had managed to stop just in time, trying to catch your breath. You were still holding hands when he turned to look at you.

-__? Are you okay? Are you hurt? –He asked worried.

-I am okay…How about you? –You asked.

-I’m…I’m sorry –He said surprising you. You looked up at him, his eyes showed sadness. He stood up quickly and then helped you do the same. 

-Wh-why are you sorry, Yoosung? –You asked confused.

-I’m sorry I wasn’t able to protect you…-He said whole heartedly.

-…What are you talking about? What happened was out of nowhere! –You said still confused

-Still…I could have done something other than being pulled…I don’t know. -He said

-Yoosung…

-__, I promise I’m going to finish the maze first. I have to show you somehow that I am manly enough for y…f-for things like this.

You sighed. 

-It doesn’t have to do with manliness, what’s that supposed to mean anyways? I am happy that we are safe Yoosung…I…We should be thinking about the others, what if something like this has happened to them too …I was the one who…I… -You lowered your face, a pinch of worry placed itself in your stomach thinking about the others…also another pinch of guilt thinking how you had agreed with Saeran’s idea first. 

-__ -said Yoosung suddenly taking both your hands between his- We are going to get out of here believe me. 

Yoosung’s purple eyes were shining with…adoration. It wasn’t the first time you saw him looking at you like that, but this time it wasn’t creepy, or possessive, it was so sincere…that side of Yoosung was shining in front of you, so innocent, so lovely…

-__... you are always so kind to me, I can’t begin to explain you how much you have inspired me this couple of days of being better, of trying harder. I’m so sorry again for what happened at the bunker…

-That’s already forgotten, Yoosung…seriously –You told him while squeezing his hands reassuringly.

-Thank you…–He said while continuing to stare at your eyes…although somehow it felt good the way he was looking at you, you were about to leave his hands. But he suddenly closed his eyes hard and left your hands first taking a step back from you…he looked like he was hurting. 

We should continue and find the others, then we can see how to get out of here –He said sighing and finally opening his eyes and giving you a sweet smile. Your heart ached because you now knew how he was feeling. You nodded agreeing giving him an understanding smile.

You started walking forwards, with Yoosung following behind. You were just a couple of minutes in, when you heard a noise of rustling plants behind you. You looked behind and shouted when you realize that Yoosung was being practically swallowed by one of the walls.

-Yoosung!! –you said reaching your hand to his, he grabbed it.

-__, don’t worry about me. Look for the others and stay safe! –He said and then, before you could do anything about it, he let go of your hands, letting the bush swallow him completely.

-Nooooo!!!! –You shouted and started hitting the wall. You pushed yourself through it to the other side but he was not there. You did that two more times while calling Yoosung at the top of your lungs, small scratches were already appearing on your arms and legs. 

You sat in the ground and hugged your knees, sobbing desperately.   
“What is this thing? Why is this happening? Where are the others? Are they okay?...is this, is this Saeran’s fault? Is this my fault?” these and many other thoughts were rushing through your head.

After a while you were finally able to calm down, you cleaned your tears with the back of your hand and stood up resolutely. You were going to find them, make sure they were safe and go back to Saeyoung. Saeran was going to pay for this…

You kept walking for who knows how much time, when you looked up at the sky it looked like sunset…it had likely been 3 hours since you entered the maze and maybe 2 since you lost Yoosung...it was going to get dark soon.

You hugged yourself when you felt a breeze of chilly air running through the corridor, passing beside you. Then it hit you, the rush of air, had to be coming from somewhere and you were going to find out. You sucked on your index finger and lifted up in the air as far as you could, you stopped and waited…you finally felt the chill passing more noticeably by your wet finger. You started following the rush. When you would reach an intersection, you wetted your finger again and repeated the process to decide which way to go. 

You had been doing this a couple of times when you saw it. You had reached what looked like an open area for the first time, there were small bushes with strange looking blue roses in the center. Your heart got excited thinking you might have found the exit. You weren’t planning on exiting without the others but it would be obviously useful to know where the exit was, you could even make a path with a branches or stones of something. 

You approached the bushes and your heart sink again when you realized there was nothing there. You stepped on the bushes and flowers again and again, to see if you could feel something on the earth under them, when apparently some of their smell of the flowers came to your nose. You were trying so hard to fight against it, but your body started to feel very tired…your eyelids were closing…you were so tired but also so…relaxed, it didn’t sound like a bad idea to just let yourself fall on those beds of blue flowers and sleep for a while. 

Then, someone stopped you from falling. First holding your waist and head, and then carrying you completely by your legs and back. Your head rested on that someone’s chest. You tried to look down and felt how you were way more above from the floor than usual. With your last strength, you looked up and saw a very handsome and elegant man with black hair that was falling gracefully over his grey eyes. Then you fell asleep.


	23. Chapter 23

-__, __? –said a deep masculine voice.

Your body and head were feeling heavy, you felt grass around you. You tried to open your eyes but they weren’t responding, after struggling you were finally able to open them slightly. It was already dark and the man with the black hair was looking at you from above. When your vision adjusted you were able to see him clearly and that’s when you realized that it was Jumin and at the same time you remembered what had happened, all at once.

You tried to sat up quickly, but regret it immediately when you felt your head pounding, you placed a palm on your head with one hand instinctively.

-__, not so fast –said Jumin supporting you from your back- you fainted, you should take it slowly.

-What happened? –You said turning to look at him.

-I believe it was the blue flowers you were standing on, I started to feel slightly dizzy too when I went to stop you from falling.

-Yeah…I guess some of its smell got to me when I was stepping on them…Thank you for rescuing me. –You said looking at him again.

You started to feel flustered as soon as you realized you had never been this close to him before. He was really, extremely handsome and not only that but his general demeanor even in a time like this always made him even more attractive.

-Of course __ -He said giving you a soft smile.

He stayed like that for a moment and then he also seemed to realize he was very close to you, because he cleared his throat and gave you more distance, but he was still holding you by your back.

-I was just passing by when I saw you. I’ve been walking around for hours and I was starting to feel more and more worried because I hadn’t seen or heard any of you. I am so glad that I found you. Also, I am so confused at how big this maze is, it doesn’t make any sense. –He said closing his eyes and shaking his head slightly.

-Yes, it didn’t seem this big from the outside –You said and Jumin nodded.

-I’m sure this was all planned by Saeran –He said- Luciel told us not to worry the whole time, to trust him but this is what we all feared.

You stayed silent feeling a pinch of guilt. 

-I…I did back up Seven with that…I just, I just didn’t think…-You said but couldn’t finish.

-__, none of this is your fault. We all wanted to trust Saeran, also we didn’t have many choices with how things have developed so far –said Jumin

For a moment you thought he was done but then he added.

-Also…Luciel is very lucky for having someone like you that supports him. –He said with a straight face, but you were so close to him that you could see a slight change on his expression.

You were about to answer, when he spoke up again changing the subject.

-Tell me how are you feeling, Do you feel good enough to try to stand up? –He asked and after a second of thought you nodded.

-Don’t worry, I’ll help you- He said while putting a firmer grip on your back and extending his hand so you could balance yourself. 

You placed your arm on one of his shoulders and pushed yourself up with his help. You were about to stand up straight, when suddenly your knees started to fail you. Jumin noticed this, so he placed his hand firmly around your waist and placed your other hand on his other shoulder. 

After a couple of seconds you were able to steady your knees, but then you made the mistake of looking up. Your breath caught up in your throat when you realized in what position you were. It almost seemed like you and Jumin had been dancing, and suddenly the music had stopped and now you were just staring at each other’s eyes while your hands were around his neck and he was grabbing you by the waist slightly leaning forward. 

Then you noticed how his grey eyes had changed, it almost seemed they had a hint of admiration. He went slowly down from your eyes, to your nose, cheeks…and then you gulped hard when he stopped at your lips. For a moment you didn’t breathe, you didn’t know what was going to happen. But then he looked up at your eyes again, as if trying to read them.

-Luciel…-He said. For a moment you didn’t know what he meant, but then he added- He…I’m sure he is looking for us already. It’s already dark after all. 

You nodded and then he proceeded to help you to finally stand straight. You took your hands from his neck at the same time he took his from your waist. 

-I…I feel okay enough to keep walking; maybe we can keep trying to find the others.

-Are you sure? –He asked and you nodded- As soon as you get tired…

-Don’t worry, Jumin. I’ll be okay –You said interrupting him and smiling at him.

You started to walk in silence, but then deciding to take turns on shouting everyone’s names. 

-Zen, Yoosung, Jaehee!! –You shouted and then sighed at the end. 

You had been shouting for so long that you had started to feel it was of no use, also your throat was getting sore. Jumin might have thought the same thing because he didn't continue after you. Then a thought crossed your mind.

-Jumin...may I ask you a delicate question?

-Yes

-…Where is Elizabeth the third?

Jumin didn’t say anything for a long moment and you started to panic.

-I…I am so sorry Jumin, I didn’t mean to... –You said regretting the question but he shook his head.

-It’s okay…she has been missing for a little over a week.

-So before I arrived here. –You said placing a hand on your mouth.

-Yes, we didn’t know how she got outside. The cat security team couldn’t find anything; it is almost as if she vanished... 

-…I’m so sorry to hear that. –You said.

-Thank you…These past few days I haven’t been able to investigate more for obvious reasons. But, Luciel told me he thinks she is back in the real world now somehow…He even said that maybe it was a distraction that Cheritz wanted to place upon myself, I was feeling hopeful because of that this morning, but now I don’t know what to think anymore.

Sadness washed over you thinking on how Jumin most have been feeling, after all even though you didn’t knew him in person before, the game was able to portray how important Elizabeth was for him. You wanted to speak up, to say something reassuring to him. You took air in but then something in front of you stopped both of you.

You had arrived to an open area once again inside of the maze. Inside of it was a fountain full of what seemed like fresh, clean, running water. Your suddenly noticed how thirsty you were, how dry your mouth and throat were, after all it had been hours since the last time you drank something. 

Jumin and you walked up to the fountain almost hypnotized, you were sure he was as thirsty as you were. You turned to look at each other apparently thinking the same thing; was it safe to drink from it? 

-I’ll try it first, __. I cannot let you be under risk once again. –He said.

-No, Jumin. I’ll try it. –You said.

-No, it’s better if I try it myself. You just regained your strength, besides if something happens to me you’ll be here to help me.–He said.

You thought for a moment, but he was right. It seemed like the most logical way.

-Okay…but please just drink a little. –You said finally.

He then turned to the fountain and rolled the sleeves of his jacket suit up. He lowered himself and using his palms picked up some water from it. Your heart was beating faster when he placed his palms near his lips and sipped. 

He stood up straight again and closed his eyes waiting, the only sound was that of the running water…it seemed like an eternity but it was probably just a couple of minutes, then he finally spoke up.

-I feel okay, it didn’t taste strange either. –He said.

You sighed feeling that you could breathe again. He lowered himself again on the fountain and drank more water. You did the same and as soon as the water touched your lips you felt a hundred times better, you kept drinking until you felt satisfied. Finally you cleaned your lips with the back of your arm; Jumin did the same and turned to look at you. It was rather odd seeing him doing that simple gesture, you smiled at him.

-What is it? –He said confused at your smile.

-Nothing –You said but started giggling- It’s just that for a second you didn’t seem like the corporate prince anymore. 

-The corporate prince? –He said curiously- you’re…you’re starting to sound like Zen.

-Sorry! –You said thinking that you had annoyed him but then he smiled.

-I was joking. –He said

-Oh…-You said and then laughed awkwardly

A cold breeze then passed through you and you instinctively hugged yourself. Jumin seemed to notice, because he took his suit jacket off and placed it on your shoulders.

-But what about yourself? –You asked.

-It’s okay, I’m not cold.

-Thank you…–You said smiling at him.

-Well…I think we should rest for a while. –He said and you nodded agreeing; your feet and back were already hurting.

You sat on the grass, resting your back on bottom of the fountain. Jumin sat beside you and did the same. 

-Jumin.

-Hmm? –He said with his eyes closed.

-I couldn’t say this to you earlier but…you are a strong person and I admire you for staying so rational even after all of what has happened. We are going to find Elizabeth and we are going to be okay. –You said turning to him. 

He opened his eyes and turned to look at you too. 

-Thank you, __. You’re truly a beautiful person.


	24. Chapter 24

And without knowing how or when, you fell asleep. At some point you remember resting your head on Jumin’s shoulder and then how he passed an arm over your trembling shoulders. 

 

You were deep asleep. Your body was suspended on a liquid-like substance, you couldn’t move a muscle or open your eyes, you wanted to shout but you couldn’t either, the only feeling that was prevalent was despair. Despair turned into horror when you felt how your nostrils were attached to something; it felt like you were breathing through some sort of tubes. You tried once again to move your arms, but you couldn’t, was this really a dream? The feeling of desperation became bigger and bigger placing itself on your cold chest, it was unbearable, you fought once again with all your might, you HAD TO move. You took a sharp breath, you were finally able to open your eyes and move your body forward. 

You tried to steady your breathing while you looked around to see where you were. You were back in the maze, it was pitch dark and the sounds of running water came to your ears again. You sighed; it has been just a dream... You felt cold although you still had Jumin’s jacket on, you looked to your left to see him but… he wasn’t there, so you looked to your right, you turned around.

-Jumin? –You said into the dark.

You started worrying when you stood up from the grass and looked around everywhere. There was no sign of him. 

-Jumin! –You said louder- Jumin, where are you?!

Your chest started going up and down when you walked up fast into one of the labyrinth corridors. You looked frantically everywhere, and paced up.

-Jumiiiin!!! –You said but your voice got lost in the dark.

You clenched your fists to your sides while tears started streaming down your face.

-Argh!!! –You passed a hand through your hair feeling powerless, while tears kept rolling down your cheeks anxiety combining with anger- damn you, Saeran!!!

-__?! –said a voice from afar. 

-Huh?...H-hello?! –You shouted back

-It’s me, Zen!! Where are you?!! 

-Zen!!! –You shouted feeling how a bit of hope placed itself in your chest again- I…I think we’re on a different corridor, but we are definitely close!!! Let’s keep shouting!!!

-Okay!!! Good idea!!! –He said- Actually, how about I sing??!! 

Despite the situation you were in, you chuckled. 

-Okay, I guess!!!! –you shouted back.

-What do you mean I guess?! I sing beautifully, you know that!!! –He said

-haha… -it was true after all you thought- okay then sing!!!! 

-Hey little creature, tell me what’s on your mind. Where you’ve been hiding and can I come this time? ♪ ♫

You smiled to yourself recognizing the song. You kept going through the walls from one corridor to another pushing yourself to where Zen’s voice was coming. You protected your face with your arms and Jumin’s jacket kept protecting your arms from further scratches. 

-I think we are super close now!!!

You kept counting all the jumps you were making, you needed to come back to the fountain. Zen might be thirsty too…

-Heartache to heartache, I’m your wolf, I’m your man...♪ ♫

-Zen! –You said when you finally saw him standing in front of you.

Both of your gazes lighted up when you saw each other, he ran up to you and hugged you. You were hesitant at first but you welcomed the hug. 

-__! –He said embracing you closer, then he broke the hug to examine you- are you okay? I heard you shouting…I’ve been walking for hours trying to find you or the others. I was so worried…is that Jumin’s jacket? 

-…it is- You said feeling a knot of sadness growing in your throat.

-Is he almost here? –Zen asked while trying to look through the bushes for him, the knot became even bigger.

-He…I don’t know where he is…

-What do you mean, __? What happened?! –He asked suddenly worried 

-We were together trying to find the rest of us, when we found a fountain so we rested for a while and then…when I woke up he was not there….-You said while Zen stayed silent processing what you had just said. 

-I see…- said Zen in a serious tone, then he embraced you once again in his arms.

Your face was buried in his chest and you felt how all of your courage went away in a second as soon as you felt safe, that’s when you noticed just how hard you were pushing yourself to be strong. You couldn’t push anymore and you started crying openly, your breathing irregular while your moans were muffled by Zen’s chest. 

-I also lost Yoosung!! –You moaned in anguish- I don’t know if he is okay or not!! I feel so useless.

-Shhh, it’s going to be okay __. I’m here now, we are in this together okay? –Zen whispered while stoking your hair lightly.

After a while and after soaking all the front part of Zen’s shirt with your tears, you pulled back from his chest and looked up at him cleaning your tears. He looked down at you with a sweet smile.

-I don’t know how you can still look so cute after crying so much –He said.

Despite the situation you smiled softly, feeling a little warmer inside. 

-Oh, I almost forgot! –You said- You must be so thirsty. The fountain is not so far away from here, I counted the walls I went through to get here. Let’s go!

You pulled yourself completely out of Zen’s embrace and grabbed his arms for him to follow you, he did just that and in a matter of seconds you were crossing those walls again. 

-Ouch! –said Zen behind you.

-Oh no, I forgot to tell you too…you should use be careful with your arms, this plants scratch so badly.

-haha –laughed Zen sourly behind you- I did notice but of course I gave priority to my beautiful face and that’s the only thing I’m covering right now. 

You sighed, that was expected.

Finally you arrived to the corridor that lead to the fountain, or so you believed. You looked around hopeful to see any sign of difference in the corridor, but they all looked exactly the same. 

You looked back at Zen and blushed immediately at the sight. Apparently in an effort to cover his face more productively, he had taken off his shirt and covered his head and face with it. He looked kind of funny to be honest, but your eyes weren’t really paying attention to anything above his neck. 

You couldn’t take your eyes of his strong, long and defined torso it was almost like a vision, like he was not real. You shook your head and closed your eyes trying to get yourself back to reality; it was rude to be staring; besides it felt so wrong. 

You heard him chuckle and you felt yourself blushing even more, knowing that he had most probably noticed how you had reacted. When you opened your eyes again, Zen had taken off his shirt from covering his head and was now passing it through his neck putting it on. You had a second more to collect yourself while it was rolling down his torso, before his eyes were finally looking at yours once again.

-So, are we in the right corridor now? –He said and you nodded while you felt the blush in your cheeks fading very slowly. 

You started walking hopeful with Zen following behind you in the narrow corridor. You had your own hands timidly holding themselves and resting in front of you, while looking at the floor and walking in silence. 

You had always felt happy with yourself for the fact that looks didn’t mean so much to you. Zen of course was stunningly handsome, to the point of exaggeration. And as you had thought before, it was not a mystery anymore why he was obsessed with his looks, but also… you also knew Zen was way more than that…more times than not, his looks had been a disadvantage making people think that his accomplishments were because of that and not because of his genuine hard work. 

You also imaged how it would feel like never knowing if people were genuinely interested in you as a person or just wanted to be with you for your looks. You would never want Zen to feel that you were one of those people because you genuinely liked and appreciated him for who he was…and that was exactly why…that was exactly why you felt guilty about looking at Zen that way, but also…

-Saeyoung…-you said under your breath, your heart thumped painfully thinking about him, would he be okay? Had Saeran trapped him somehow too? 

-__? Did you say something? –Zen asked worried.

-N-no I was just…thinking about Seven…I wonder if he’s okay. –You said.

-I would like to tell you he is…but I don’t know what that Saeran is capable of anymore –Zen said while the tone of his voice changed completely- As soon as I see that son of a…I’m sorry, __. I don’t want to lose my temper in front of you or get you more anxious, I just…

-It’s okay…-You said not really knowing what he was apologizing for, you were just as angry as he was.

After a while you thought you were never going to make it, but at the end you finally saw the entrance to the so expected fountain. As soon as you walked into the open area, you felt relief seeing the fountain with clear running water again. You and Zen drank from it 

-I was so thirsty –said Zen sighing with relief- Thank you so much, __.

-Of course, it’s the least I can do… -You said sadly and turning your face the other way. 

-Oh, no babe. Don’t make that face again, you are breaking my heart. –said Zen sweetly walking closer to you and placing a strand of hair that was covering your face to the back of your ear. 

-You’ve been so brave and strong so far and…–He continued

-Zen, I know you are trying to make me feel better but I…

-__ -He said now interrupting you and grabbing your face with both hands- You have to give yourself more credit.

-Credit of what? Zen, look what I’ve put ourselves into; I am partly responsible for all of this. And I haven’t done anything right!

-But on the other hand, you guys!!! –You continued- ...The way that Jumin rescued me earlier from some random venomous plants, the way Seven has been taking care of me and all of us since day one, the way that Yoosung has been pushing the hardest against the programming of Cheritz, the way that Jaehee organized the trip and has been quietly but strongly making sure all of us are safe, and you!! the way you fought and distracted the “people” just so we could escape. Now THAT that is being brave and strong!! I have to keep up now, I promise I’m going to get all of us out of here.

You finished your rant while your chest went up and down with emotion. Zen looked at you startled for a couple of seconds, his hands never leaving your face. Then, slowly Zen’s expression relaxed again, turning sweet, calming, so calming…his read eyes had something to them that calmed you down, they made you feel safe and beautiful.

-__…every time you say or do something even if it’s the smallest gesture there’s this thing about you…I’ve always wanted to have someone like you that has the ability to see trough people, the way you look beyond anything…I really wish I had met you in another life… –He said, lowering the last part into only a whisper.

Your heartache became bigger, your heart had been aching so much lately that you had already forgotten how it felt before. You wish you could tell him…how in another life, perhaps more like in another dimension…

-Zen, I…-you began mesmerized by his red eyes, he opened his eyes hopeful, expectant– I… 

But then, it took you a second to process what was happening. Out of nowhere a long “bang” sounded like the harsh opening of a door and in less than a second, you were grabbing Zen just by one arm firmly preventing him to fall into the abyss of what seemed like a trap that had just opened on the ground. 

-Hold on tight, Zen!!! –You said feeling the color from your face draining while your hand started to slip from his arm all the way to his hand. 

-__, let me go –Zen said suddenly noticing how much you were struggling to pull him back.

You were trying your hardest, but your arms and legs were not cooperating, not even pulling back with your weight was helping.

-What?!!! I won’t!!! –You shouted but it sounded suffocated by the effort you were making.

-__ please, we’re going to fall together if you don’t let me go and I can’t let that happen –He said and to your horror he started to slip his hand from yours, your hand was so sweaty from the adrenaline that it wasn’t that hard.

-Zen, please nooo!!! –You cried.

And like a nightmare in slow motion, you felt how his last finger slipped from yours.

-NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! –You cried desperately- Zeeeeeen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You were crying uncontrollably when you saw his smile for the last time while the door shot itself closed, making it seem like it had never been there in the first place. You were now fully immersed in a state of complete shock and panic…that didn’t happen, it couldn’t have happened, how? why?!!

-ZEEEEENNN!!! –You kept shouting at the floor, but there was nothing there anymore, it was just grass you were hitting. 

-…Hey little creature you know it's all okay. I’m gonna love you, no matter what you say♪ ♫

You suddenly froze to listen while your swollen tired eyes widened recognizing that voice. This time it was not Zen singing that song. 

-SAERAAANN!!!! –You shouted angrily into the night sky- I’m going to find you!!! You’re going to FUCKING regret this!!!!!

-I got love on my fingers, lust on my tongue. You say you got nothing so come out and get some♪ ♫

You stood up clenching your fists to the side with a numbness of rage running through your veins. 

-Heartache to heartache I’m your wolf, I’m your man. I say run little monster before you know who I am…♪ ♫

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song is Little Monster by Royal Blood. I highly recommend you to listen to it and that band in general they are pretty cool!
> 
> Hope you liked the episode, my lovelies❤


	25. Chapter 25

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello my lovelies!!! A brand new chapter just for you. I'm so sorry if it's too short, but I really wanted to upload something. Thankfully I am getting more organized with my job now, so I should be able to upload more often or at least longer chapters. 
> 
> Thank you again for reading and letting me know what you think. You're THE BEST!!!!❤❤❤

Your hearing became sharp. You followed Saeran’s voice through the corridors and walls, he was not far away and you knew it. Suddenly, he stopped singing and you froze, how were you supposed to find him now?

-Don’t worry, kitten –He said loud enough for you to follow his voice again- I’m going to keep talking until you find me. I want you to find me so bad…

You clenched your teeth at his tone and kept walking and pushing yourself faster and faster through the tall bushes. 

-I love our hide and seek game –He said. You were so close- I never thought things would go so perfectly.

He was behind that last wall and you knew it, your heart was beating painfully in anxiety as you were crossing the wall, not even remembering this time to cover your face. Your body had so much adrenaline that you barely felt it when a branch made a long scratch on your neck. 

When you finally arrived to the other side and opened your eyes, you saw him standing there. He had a smirk plastered on his face, a smirk that only made the rage in your veins burn even more. Without thinking much, you ran towards him, he opened his eyes slightly in surprise as you tackled him to the floor landing on top of him. 

-How dare you??!! Where the fuck is everyone?!!!

He looked up at you, the calm expression and that smirk you hated so much already had returned to his face. 

-No need to shout, princess. We’re so close…and I can’t say I don’t like it.

-Answer me!! –You said holding him by the shoulders, your hair falling to his right shoulder.

-Everyone is okay, they are on the underground tunnel I mentioned before probably on their way to the castle already. I don’t think they’ll take long to find us, especially with the help of Saeyoung. But that also means we have some time alone for us…

-Shut up or I swear I’ll…-you started and lifted your right fist in front of his face, but then you felt different...you slowly lower your fist. It was as if the state of complete rage was far gone from one second to the other.

Saeran’s mint eyes were shinning in the night sky, his hair that was so much like Saeyoung’s, was deliciously messy and his face…he was really almost identical to Saeyoung, but he had that something that made him different, that made him seem so dangerous, so forbidden, so...sexy. 

Saeran seemed to have notice your change in expression, because his lids suddenly fell halfway on his eyes directing a seductive stare at you, it was almost as if he knew what you were feeling. He placed a hand on your cheek and you felt how your body trembled as soon as his fingertips touched your skin. 

-I have never in my life been in the presence of so much beauty…your mind, your body, your fire...you're a vision, you're a drug to all my senses.-He said in just a whisper. 

-I…I should stand up –You said feeling how the heat that started radiating from your cheeks was now passing through to his hand. 

You had all the intention to do so, but then he started to caress your cheek, and then you didn’t want to move anymore. No, you couldn't move anymore. You had trapped him sitting on top of him with your legs on both of his sides and that made you feel somehow in control in the situation, maybe you could stay there for a second more.

-I feel it too, __... the first time I saw you I tried my hardest not to, but I felt an instant connection, an instant attraction to you…

-It’s Cheritz programming –You said immediately, also in an attempt to pull yourself out of the trance you were in.

-Maybe, maybe not…I know the RFA is also attracted to you. But not as much as I am __, not as intensely, so intensely it’s almost unbearable…and…I think you feel the same about me.

To your dismay, the hand that was on your cheek started to slide slowly down to your lips. When he got there, he kept sliding down until the only finger he had on them was his thumb, while his other fingers touched your neck so slightly it made you tremble…He paused on your lower lip for a second, and then he finally rolled down painfully slowly opening your mouth, you held your breath.

You were in a complete daze, by synergy you lowered yourself down after his hand, getting close to his face. He was truly so irresistible, he was not like the other guys, he was not like...

-I’m not Saeyoung, __... -He said reading your mind. 

You lowered yourself even closer to him, you were so close that you could feel his breath on your parted lips. You looked up from his lips to his mint eyes, then back to his lips. And then you knew there was no way you could control yourself anymore. You finally closed the gap in between and felt how his soft lips caressed yours briefly sending a shiver throughout your whole body.

-...No!! –You said suddenly and yanked yourself backwards- I can’t do this!!!

But then Saeran sat up with you still sitting on top of him, grabbing you from the small of your back and from the back of your head. He closed the gap between your lips again and started kissing you mercilessly, so passionately, so fiercely but at the same time so smoothly, so perfectly like your lips were made to fit each other... Your head wanted to regain sanity again to get out of that state, but the closeness, his touch, his warmness and lips were sending waves of electricity throughout your body, waves that were hard to control. 

You felt his tongue going inside your mouth meeting yours in a painful, prohibited dance, and then you felt…and it made your head dizzy and your cheeks warmer, you were sitting on top of him after all. You moaned in his mouth and that only seemed to tense him even more, he pulled you even closer to him. 

Then he turned you over on the grass, now he was on top of you pinning you from your wrists in control. He groaned when you almost involuntarily brought your hips up to be closer to him. You brought yourself back briefly to get some air, but in a second you were back at it again. Your body ached the single second it wasn’t close to his. He started to roam your body, his touch, his fingers were fire and you were melting under it. He started kissing your neck, passing his tongue along the scratch you had gotten from the branches earlier. You were so lost, so lost in sin, nothing was real anymore, nothing mattered anymore, there was only Saeran. 

Then from one second to the other you felt so cold and it was all so fast that it took your brain a moment to process. You heard a roar before opening your eyes and what you saw made your heart and breathing stop. There was Saeyoung yanking Saeran away from you with the hem of his shirt and then punching him right in the face, the sound it made making you jump. 

-Saeyoung!!! Noo!!! –You started screaming from the back of your throat in regret, in pain, in desperation. 

-Whyyyy????!!! –Seven shouted ignoring you, hitting Saeran again and again until Zen appeared running from behind and grabbed him by the shoulders, Saeran fell to the ground with a hand covering his nose groaning.

-Get it together, Seven!! –said Zen firmly- We’ll fix this one way or another. 

Then Jumin appeared from behind too, Zen pulled himself and Seven very close to one of the walls so Jumin could push through them to get to Saeran. Jumin grabbed Saeran by one arm forcing him to stand.

-I’ll make sure he doesn’t do more harm. –Jumin said. 

-We have to go now –said Seven sounding broken hearted but determined, Zen still grabbing him but more loosely- Cheritz has been tearing the firewalls for hours, slowly but surely so we wouldn't realize it until it was too late. I believe they now have a full grip on Saeran, because of his mental problems he is more prone to that. And now we are also going to get even more affected by their control if we stay here longer. 

-What do you mean? –asked Yoosung from behind.

-I mean what I just fucking said!!... Even __ is being somewhat controlled now -He said pausing, but he didn’t even so much as glanced at you, you felt your heart breaking in a thousand pieces to the floor, you felt empty... your chest unbearably tight- So we have to go... NOW!!! 

-Okay, okay! –said Zen finally letting Saeyoung go- but how?!!

-Turns out Saeran was really close to finding out and I just made things fit. We have to find some sort of fountain; it has to be inside this property. –Said Seven.

-I…I know a fountain close- You said but again Seven didn’t even glanced, you just saw how his jaw clenched along with his fists. 

-It’s true, we drank from it- said Jumin nodding.

-Me too before I fell in the trap –said Zen.

-Do you remember where that is? –said Seven to no one in particular. 

-No, __ was the one who stayed there when the maze took us away, I believe- said Jumin and Zen nodded.

-I…I did stay there, but then I lost track of it when I went after…after…- You tried to finish but Seven interrupted you harshly. 

-Try to find it –He said with so much coldness in his voice that he made you shiver- We’ll follow you. 

\- O-okay –You said without much strength, but you had to do it for everyone, you had to be strong for everyone it was the last you could do. You sighed and stood up from the ground.

You closed your eyes and tried to rewind your mind to when you were following Saeran’s voice. Your first thought was the wall that you had come through to get to this corridor, you had to start somewhere. 

-Okay…follow me –You said.


	26. Chapter 26

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is especially dedicated to my dear reader widow_maker! <3 <3 <3 HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!! You are THE BEST!! I hope you have a freaking awesome birthday, and I really hope you and everyone else enjoys this super duper long chapter.
> 
> I love you all!! <3 <3 <3

You stood up from the grass and began pushing your way through the wall you remembered passing before. The last thing you saw before the bushes were covering your sight, was everyone motioning to follow you, with Jumin still grabbing Saeran right behind you, behind them was Seven, then Yoosung, Zen and Jaehee's in the back. You realized then that between all the commotions, you hadn't become aware of Jaehee’s presence until that moment, you were very happy she was safe too but a pinch of guilt formed in your stomach combining itself with all the negative emotions that were taking a toll in your body already. 

You kept pushing through everything, not only the walls, but your nerves and muscles, exhausted by all the walking, running, movements and emotions. Your heart... your heart was shattered remembering again and again Saeyoung’s face when he discovered Saeran and you. You didn’t even bother to cover your body this time from the scratches that the bushes were producing on it, somehow they felt…fitting…

Seven was the only one not talking in the back; you felt his stare now and then on your neck every time you were briefly on a corridor together. You hated yourself, how on Earth did you ended up in THAT situation with Saeran? How on Earth weren't you able to control yourself? It was your entire fault.

\- You're hurting me -groaned Saeran in the back to Jumin.

\- Not ask much as you've hurt this group -responded Jumin.

-Tsk -was the only other sound that came from Saeran's mouth.

After a while you felt like it couldn't be too far now. You stopped suddenly in a corridor almost entering the next wall placing your hand behind you for everyone to stop. Jumin, Saeran and Seven stopped right away.

-Ouch!! -said Yoosung from inside the bushes- stop pushing me Zen.

-Sorry, I didn't know we were stopping. -said Zen 

-Good thing I stayed on this side! -said Jaehee loudly still on the other corridor.

You looked both ways trying to find something familiar, but as the last time you did this everything was exactly the same.

-uuhh.. __, I don't mean to pressure you but being inside this bush waiting is not the most comfortable thing in the world. -said Yoosung.

-Right! Sorry -You said now deciding to start walking forward on that particular corridor- please follow me, I have a hunch about this one. 

You started walking south now, although you had lost track of where was south, north, east and west long ago. But for now as you were concerned it was south. You kept walking for a mile or so, when suddenly through the chatting of everyone you heard something.

-Everyone, be quiet for a moment. –You said stopping again.

-…And then when I fell under the trap I… -said Zen.

-Shh!! –said Jumin turning to look at him.

-What?! –said Zen annoyed lifting an eyebrow. 

-Guys, please. –you said turning at them and finally everyone became quiet.

You immediately froze at what you heard with your muscles becoming stiffer, faintly but surely you could hear the noises of the “people”. You didn’t know how far away from you they were, but you were a hundred percent sure that you couldn’t hear them last time you checked.

-Oh no, not them again…-said Jaehee expressing what everyone was feeling. 

-Do you think they finally made it inside the property? –asked Jumin to Seven.

-It seems so…-said Seven frowning concerned- We better get going.

You nodded at him, although he was again not even looking at you. You sighed and started walking again faster. As you walked, the sounds were getting closer and closer at an alarming fast rate. All of you instinctively started walking faster and faster to the point that you were already practically jogging. 

-We shouldn’t be too far now, right __? –said Yoosung hopeful from the back.

-uumm…I-I hope so. –You said growing anxious.

Suddenly Jaehee shouted in horror on the back. 

-They are right behind us now!!! –She said.

You turned around and confirmed this, an endless army of “people” were now tailing you, being just a couple of feet away 

-How the fuck did they find us so fast?!!! –said Zen angrily.

-Cheritz –said Saeran simply. 

-I don’t want to hear you right now, shut up!! –responded Zen.

-He is right, though. –said Seven and no one said anything else.

And then everyone jumped, a loud explosion was heard from the back making you all confused. When you turned around you saw how a couple of “people” went flying and then landing on the floor motionless, blocking at the same time the path for the rest. You also saw Jaehee’s triumphant smile.

-That should buy us a couple of seconds –She said.

-What was that??! –asked Yoosung.

-A grenade, it turns out that the tunnel we walked to go back to the castle also had some defense supplies in it. I figured I should pick some if we were going to fight Saeran –She said happily with agitated breath as you all kept running.

-That was badass. –Zen told her amazed, making Jaehee’s cheeks red tinted. You all nodded. 

-It should be close now!!!! –you said trying to reassure yourself of that too.

Then to your horror, a hand grabbed you by the arm from the other side of one of the walls. You kicked it away with all your strength reacting fast. One of the things appeared from nowhere too beside Zen and he punched him right in the face and kept running. 

-__!! –said Yoosung and you knew exactly why he was saying your name again.

-It shouldn’t be too… –You tried to say something reassuring again. But you were in a state of real panic now and your words got cut mid-sentence. 

All of you were now punching and kicking the “people” over and over, you felt that this was definitely the end now; this was it, you were going to be responsible for the death of your friends and the love of your life, the one that you had just cheated on with his twin brother. Maybe you in fact deserved to die like this, but not them, never them. And then it hit you.

-It’s right on the other side of this wall!!!! –You shouted back to everyone almost out of breath. 

-Are you sure this time??!! –shouted Luciel desperately.

-Yes, I am!!! –You said trying to ignore the pain that his attitude towards you had inflicted, you deserved it. 

-Okay, everybody push yourselves through the left wall at the same time in one…-You began.

-Two…

-Three!!! –You said doing just that using your side this time as a pushing force. 

You faintly felt the now bleeding scratches that happened in your body and face from pushing yourself that fast. You couldn’t even feel them as much because of the adrenaline. 

You opened your eyes and they lit up, there in front of you like a vision was the thing that you wanted to see the most right now. Not so far from there, was the open area with the fountain in the middle. 

-Yes!!! –you shouted and started running full speed towards it with everyone else following you, you all arrived fast enough and then you realized you didn’t know what to do then. For a second you just stood there, Jumin spoke up.

-What do we do now, Luciel? –said Jumin, probably having a couple of seconds more until you were surrounded again, you could hear “them” approaching. 

-Get your head in the water and stop breathing until you lose consciousness. –said Seven.

-…What??!! –said everyone out loud.

-Look, we only have a couple of seconds!!!!! –said Seven. But everyone just kept looking at him- It’s the last time you’ll have to trust anything I say without proof, I swear!!

-That is insane, Seven!!! –Shouted Yoosung, everyone but Saeran nodded and started shouting similar things. But then without planning it, you heard your voice speaking louder and firmer than theirs.

-I trust you. –You said decisively and everyone went quiet now looking at you.

And without anything else, you turned and kneeled facing the fountain. With the last thing you saw being everyone’s eyes widening. You submerged your head in the water feeling awkward at the position you were, but knowing it was necessary. You started emptying your lungs right again, feeling how the bubbles were coming out of your nose. 

After mere seconds, you opened your eyes briefly and saw how everyone one by one submerged their heads in the water too beside you. Everyone but Seven…knowing him, you were afraid he had stayed to fight the “humans” himself, but there were too many, even under water you could faintly hear them. An explosion was heard, he had probably borrowed more grenades from Jaehee. 

With panic but bravery you finished emptying your lungs as completely. Your heart started beating faster in anxiety, you were now in the process of drowning, willingly...your brain was getting foggy, but you had to fight and fight hard against your survival instincts, against your body wanting to pull your head out of the water and breathe…breathing was nice…you had never really, truly appreciated breathing before, just how you apparently hadn’t appreciate Saeyoung enough to control your instincts…

You heard another very loud explosion, even though it was somehow muted by the water. You opened your eyes briefly again and saw your friends, some of them with their mouths slightly opened, you didn’t even know if they were awake or not. 

And then, when you finally felt how your lungs started burning from the feeling of the water filling them instead of the so desired oxygen, you finally saw Saeyoung’s head submerging. He turned around fast to see you; his golden eyes were finally looking directly at you, directly at your eyes. His eyes reflected how worried to death he was, but still…Saeyoung’s eyes were the only thing you wanted to see ever again if you were never to wake up. You finally lost consciousness….

 

 

The tubes…the tubes were the only thing in this world, were the only thing that existed. You didn’t felt anything else. But then, you felt your nose, your nose with the tubes inside were the next thing that existed, then your face, your neck, your arms, and your torso. One by one, you could feel every part of your body becoming something conscious for you once again, but what were you? A name…did you had a name? What was your purpose, did you had one? What was this feeling against your skin? A soft and muted feeling, away from anything else. 

You began moving your fingers through the matter; it was soft and absolute, moldable. You were floating…your heart started beating faster….Your name was __, your name was __! Everything returned to your mind so fast you almost couldn’t bare it. 

You opened your eyes suddenly and saw nothing but a green substance that made your vision blurry, you tried to move your arms, but they were attached to something. You turned to look at them, and to your horror they were covered in tubes connected by needles that pierce through your skin, you moved yourself frantically enough to disconnect some of them. When one of your hands was free, you began disconnecting them one by one, then two by two. You frantically disconnected more that were placed in your legs. 

When your body was finally free, you tried to stabilize your breathing, oxygen was being provided for you by the tubes attached to your nose. You realized you had a white swimsuit on and that you were trapped in some sort of transparent capsule with green liquid. You sat on the bottom and looked around, your hair floating left to right when you were turning your head, you couldn’t see anything but lights. 

By instinct, you started hitting the capsule and realize the material was similar to glass; maybe you would be able to break it. You kept hitting it again and again, using as much strength as the gravity of a liquid environment could let you. After who knows how much time, you were out of breath and shouted in frustration seeing how bubbles came out of your mouth. 

You tried to stabilize your breathing again. “Okay, calm down and think” you ordered yourself and closed your eyes. You opened them again and looked down suddenly realizing the bottom of the capsule was on some sort of hard surface. So you decided to use the pressure of your feet on it, to reach a breaking point on the glass ceiling using your knuckles from one hand. It felt painful after a while, you felt how your knuckles were close to start bleeding, but then you felt hope when you heard the glass beginning to crack. “yes!” you thought planting your feet harder to give more power to your knuckles. 

And then you finally felt it, the glass cracked loudly and you were finally able to stand up with the green liquid splashing everywhere. You opened your eyes after you felt they would be safe from any broken glass flying away, what you saw made your blood freeze and your smile from that brief moment of success disappear. 

Surrounding you was the most horrifying thing you had ever seen in your life, a gigantic dark and cylinder-like warehouse with rows and rows of capsules full with that fluorescent green liquid were all around you. But the most horrifying thing of all was that inside every single capsule, there were humanoid figures. You ripped off the tubes from your nose which caused you a sting of pain that you decided to ignore, and walked to a close capsule being careful on not stepping on the pieces of glass from your own broken one. 

You felt a wave of relief when you saw who was there. Jaehee was floating in the same way you were just a few moments ago, wearing the same white swimsuit. You tried to wake her up by hitting the glass and almost immediately she opened her eyes, you could read the panic in them. 

You were about to shout through the glass trying to calm her, but then you realized you needed to be quiet, chances were that you were finally in Cheritz headquarters and you were sure as hell that you weren’t supposed to be awake. 

Jaehee started freaking out inside her capsule. You were sure she could somehow see a blurry version of you, but without her glasses it was probably impossible for her to tell. You needed to help her break the glass too. You walked over to the side were her feet were instead of her head for safety reasons. And then thinking about everything and everyone else but yourself, you broke the glass on that side using one of your elbows. 

The first hit was very painful, but not as much as the second one. When you hit the second time the glass finally cracked and the green liquid started to come out of it as well. Jaehee desperately removed the tubes attached to her body. 

-__! –She said immediately after removing the tubes attached to her nose too.

You helped her come out of the mess, telling her to be careful with nor stepping on the broken glass too.

-Are you okay, Jaehee? –You asked concerned and she nodded.

-Where are we? –She asked looking around in fear at the creepy glistening capsules. 

-I…I’m not sure but my best guess is that we are in Cheritz headquarters.

-You are bleeding, are you okay? –She asked looking at your elbow now.

You looked down to it and realized that besides your bleeding elbow, the rest of your body was completely intact; you couldn’t even see the places were the tubes had been attached previously. The scratches that you got on the maze were gone and actually all of your skin seemed extremely healthy and glowy, even more than it was before in the real world. These were most likely your real bodies.

-I’m okay -you said finally- We should look for the others.

 

You and Jaehee started walking along the capsules, stopping once in a while to look inside of the capsules. These were all humans, and it was horrible it sent waves of fear down your spine and at the same time it was rage, how could a corporation do such a thing and more importantly, why?!. You wanted to help them all, to get them out of that place, but what the twins have told you about them, about how far gone into the trance they were…these were all probably the people that you saw inside of the game, but these were actually real people…except…

Out of the sea of people, you saw a little white ball of fur floating inside one of the capsules, you recognized her immediately and Jaehee did too.

-Elizabeth the third! –She exclaimed and walked up fast in front of her capsule- We need to find a better way to get her out that won’t hurt us.

She scanned the place but couldn’t see anything at first, but then you heard a noise. You instinctively hid behind one of the capsules. A young man was walking your way, but he was looking back laughing and talking.

\- …and then I told him, what the heck is that Dave? No one puts things like that in the microwave –He was apparently talking to a guy that was way behind him, they both had clipboards and were stopping briefly at every capsule, writing down stuff on them. 

-That’s insane –Responded the other guy. 

-That’s what I told him! But you know how Dave is.

-They have a tool belt, __. –Whispered Jaehee as low as she could- We should take it from them. 

-Yes, but how? –You asked. 

-I have an idea, just follow me. –She said and she started crawling fast on the other side of the capsules, you followed. 

Once you were behind one of them she signaled for you to stay there.

We are going to knock them from the back –She whispered and you nodded

Then she crawled fast behind the other guy, you took a deep breath when she locked eyes with you and you both nodded to each other. You rose from the floor at the same time and hurried forward to the guards. You hit him as hard as you could on the back of his head and used your other hand to cover his mouth.

-hhmm!! –He shouted muffled by your hand. You mounted his back and kept hitting him repeatedly until he was unconscious. 

You looked back to see Jaehee and she was already hurrying back to you carrying the belt with tools, you took the one that the guy that you knocked had. You smiled at each other and ran back to Elizabeth the third’s capsule.

Jaehee broke the glass using a hammer and instantly the green liquid started coming out, a meowing scared Elizabeth started moving around.

-Be quiet and stop moving Elizabeth, I’m going to free you from those things. –said Jaehee struggling with her. After a few seconds Elizabeth seemed to understand and she stayed still, flinching once in a while from the tubes that were coming out of her tiny body.

-Okay, we’re good to go-said Jaehee placing Elizabeth on the floor- help us find Jumin and the others Elizabeth! 

-Meow! –said Elizabeth and shook most of the green liquid from her fur.

So the three of you started walking, with Elizabeth now leading the way, she was sniffing everything. You thought it was impossible for her to actually find the others by smell, but then you felt another bubble of relief when you saw Jumin floating inside one of the capsules, he was wearing a men’s boxer-style white swimsuit. 

-Meow! –Elizabeth exclaimed placing her front paws on the capsule.

-Okay, in the count of three. One, two, three! –You said and broke the capsule. 

Jumin took a deep breath and his eyes were open wide, as soon as he looked at the three of you, you could see how his eyes calming down. As soon as the green liquid stopped pouring out, you repeated the process of helping Jumin to “unplug” himself and get out of the broken capsule.

\- I’m so relieved to see the three of you safe –He said while lifting a very happy Elizabeth from the ground, she started purring on his arms and he smiled lovingly down to her. You smiled too.

-Where are the others? –Asked Jumin.

-We still need to find them, and we also need to go faster. I don’t know how much time we have, I bet Cheritz already knows we’re finally free from the game and we’ve been making a lot of noise. We also knocked two guards down, who knows when they are going to wake up and come after us with company. –You said and Jumin and Jaehee nodded.

You started walking faster than before; your heart was beating faster. You were worried about all of them, but you couldn’t stop your heart being more worried about Saeyoung. He had been the last one to go in the fountain and you didn’t know if he was able to lose consciousness in time.

After a while you found Yoosung and Zen floating side to side in the same white swimsuits that Jumin had. 

-Thank god! –said Jaehee, this time Jumin and Jaehee broke their glasses and helped them.

-Where the hell are we?! –shouted Zen as soon as he got out.

-You just woke up and you already started shouting. –Said Jumin rolling his eyes- You need to be quiet.

-Okay, okay –said Zen now whispering- you don’t have to be a dick about it, now tell us.

You explained everything to Zen and Yoosung, Yoosung seemed to take a while longer to process everything; he kept looking at the surroundings. But then he spoke up. 

-Let’s keep going then.

Your heart was beating faster and faster. Saeyoung…Saeran, where are you??...  
You didn’t know if time was passing slower, but it felt like an eternity. You weren’t finding them.

-Ugh…-You said frustrated.

-Don’t worry, __. We’ll find him. –said Jumin assuming you were only concerned about Saeyoung, you decided to stay quiet.

There was definitely guilt hidden beside that worry, where you supposed to be worried about Saeran too? Did it matter? It was after all Saeyoung’s brother and he had always been important to him no matter what, you were also confused as to why the actions of Saeran had been that way. He made all of you passed through borderline torture on that maze, but was it really with foul intentions or was it his way of entertainment? Had it been once again Cheritz? There should’ve definitely been a line of how much power they had on all of you, after all that’s why you were able to resist so much. 

This and many more questionings plagued your mind and you didn’t know how much your nerves were going to be able to take until you found them safe. But then, out of the corner of your eyes, you saw the unmistakable messy red hair floating from one side to the other with its owner. 

-Saeyoung! –You said louder than you intended and walked up fast towards him with everyone else following you.

Without thinking anything else, you used the hammer to break his capsule. You frantically got your hands inside of it, without even waiting for all the green liquid to be drained completely. You started unplugging his body, tube by tube, but he wasn’t opening his eyes. Until the only tubes left were the ones from his nose, you unplugged them carefully, but again he wasn’t waking up. You brought a hand to your mouth and then saw how Zen approached him and took him out carefully placing him on the floor far from the broken glass.

-Wake up, bro. –said Zen shaking him slightly, but he seemed like dead weight. 

Yoosung kneeled down too and checked for pulse. 

-He…he doesn't have a pulse. –He said and you felt as if someone had poured iced water over your body.

-What do you mean? –You said but you had heard it loud and clear, he didn’t repeat. 

Instead, he started doing CPR on him. You watched in horror how he was really not waking up, you started crying and a rush of thoughts and flashbacks plagued your mind. It was your entire fault, you should have waited for him, you shouldn’t have left first, you should have fight the zombies instead and let all of them leave. He didn’t deserve this; YOU never deserved him, you had been the worst to him, you had been so selfish…

\- I think I hear something –said Yoosung and your heart stopped with painful hope.

Then, Saeyoung rose, pushing only his torso and head up. He took a deep breath, like he had never breathed in his entire life before and opened his eyes wide. 

-Oh, thank god!! –You exclaimed first followed by similar expressions from everyone else. 

You kneeled as fast as humanly possible beside him and hugged him for dear life.

-Saeyoung, Saeyoung –You said with tears of gratefulness coming out from your eyes- I’m so happy you are okay! I wish I had stayed instead of you.

-Don’t be silly, __... I will never do that to you. –He said embracing you into his arms, you felt lighter, better, but at the same time still not worthy of him. 

You lifted your head after a couple of seconds and looked him in the eye, he seemed really grateful to see you, but…he still had pain behind that. You flinched. 

-I’m sorry to interrupt, but we need to keep moving. –said Jumin.

-Where is Saeran? –asked Saeyoung looking everywhere.

-We haven’t found him yet –you said worried.

-Why do we have to look for him? –Asked Zen annoyed- I seriously don’t understand you guys.

-Because he is my brother! And he has mental problems and none of this is his fault, it’s the entire fault of this FUCKING evil corporation!!!

Zen opened his mouth to say something else, but then a low deep voice interrupted him from behind.

-Well, well. If it isn’t our very own RFA. We never thought you would make it this far, I have to admit we are all so impressed. 

You all turned around at the same time, and your blood froze from shock. Standing there was a tall man, holding Saeran firmly by the neck with one arm and pointing a gun at his head with the other.


	27. Chapter 27

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!! I'm so so sorry for taking this long hiatus, it was a mixture of my now hectic life and wanting to rest for a while from writing. But I'm so excited to be back! I have so many ideas for what's to come, but I always welcome your suggestions and comments. 
> 
> I really hope you enjoy this chapter!  
> xoxo

Everyone froze and Elizabeth the third hissed at him. Saeyoung and you instantly stood up and took a few steps towards them. 

-No, no. You want to stay right there if you don’t want me to pull the trigger. –Said the man effectively making you stop. 

-Let go of my brother!! Who the hell are you?! –said Saeyoung clenching his fists in frustration. 

-My name is Kun Hae-il, I’m the head programmer here at Cheritz. –He said doing a sickening bow towards all of you, almost as if he was mocking you- I really thought I had you this time at the maze with all my dear zombies, but…

-Why have you done this to us?! Why have you done this to all of these people??!! –asked Zen interrupting him angrily. The man laugh briefly.

-For the exact same reason why you are shouting right now. –He said and all of you frowned in confusion- You see…the only way you can create genuine emotions in players is when your characters are as genuine as possible. And what better way to do that than to use real humans? 

No one said anything, processing the words that had just come out from his mouth. Apparently Saeyoung processed them faster because he was the first to speak up again.

-I knew it, you’re just as sick as I thought. –He said disgusted, making the man smirk amused.

-Of course you knew…you’re a genius. That’s why we chose you, that’s why we chose both you and your brother…You see -He continued- when you both needed to hide from your father (which by the way just went from Korea’s prime minister to president) and you came to the agency that Jihyun Kim recommended, you had such a tragic story and such interesting personalities that we had to have you. 

-So all of these people also needed to change their identities?! –asked Seven alarmed.

-Just some of them... others were brought in to be with their loved ones so the stories would make sense. For Mystic Messenger we first brought Rika under the pretense that if she wasn’t able to change the real world, she would be able to change a fictional world at least. She was so insane that she did it consciously and willingly. 

-Then because of her we kidnapped and brought in Jihyun and Yoosung that were so depressed in the real world because of her disappearance, that we just had to incorporate them, Jumin was brought in because of V, etc. You and others ended up being main characters not only for Mystic Messenger but for the rest of our games like Nameless and Dandelion, none of them as successful as MM of course haha.... and these –continued Kun waving his hand towards the people inside the capsules like they were nothing important- are just background characters. 

-Then what have you done to Rika and V?!! Are they here too?! –asked Yoosung clenching his fists. 

-As soon as we didn't need them inside of the game anymore, we killed them . –said Kun simply and coldly, but seeing how Jumin’s and Yoosung’s face hardened even more he seemed surprised for a second and then asked- Did you silly boys really think there was a chance of seeing them again? hahaha!! This is so amusing.

-Why did you bring __ into the game?? And why the hell are you telling us all of these?! –asked Seven

-First, we didn’t brought her in…YOU did. –Said Kun making Seven flinch instantly- You fell in love with her, choosing her among thousands of MCs going against your programming. It was such a rare situation and we found it so interesting that we just provided you with a few tools, you did the rest. 

Saeyoung didn't reply and lowered his face to the ground. You felt the urge to hug him, to reassure him that you would never regret meeting him, not even in a situation like this. Kun continued after smirking at him. 

-And the reason why I’m telling you all of this is because it doesn’t really matter, you’re going to forget about our nice little conversation when the rest of my department gets here and reprograms you. We’re going to get rid of all the bugs and we’re going to trap you in an infinite loop once again. Also...-Kun continued now looking at you making you feel even more disgusted- we’re using __ to do a new story; we can’t wait to release the new update.

There was no way of getting more despicable than that. You were really trapped this time, not even Seven seemed to know what to do next. You glanced quickly at him, his fists were so firmly closed that his knuckles were turning white. But, from one second to the other inexplicably they seemed to relax. 

You suddenly heard an electric sound and turned your gaze back quickly to see something that made you gasp so fast that you almost felt dizzy. Behind Kun was Vanderwood. In a fast impeccable movement that only a secret agent would be able to do, Vanderwood snatched the gun from him, pushed him to the floor on his knees and used a taser on his neck making him shake uncontrollably until he lost consciousness.

-Agent Vanderwood! –Beamed Seven being the one to react faster again- I’m so happy to see you.

-Of course you are, idiot. I’m saving your ass as usual –Vanderwood said, rolling their eyes at him. Vanderwood, unlike you was wearing normal clothes- And I would have gotten here faster if you hadn’t sent me that ridiculously encrypted and senseless message. 

-haha! –said Seven scratching the back of his neck- It's one of the new languages I created, I had to make sure it was safe. Besides I knew you would be able to decipher it anyways.

-Yeah, yeah. We have to leave they are coming –said Vanderwood. And then seeing how none of you moved an inch and just looked at them with slightly open mouths, Vanderwood sighed and spoke up again- You heard this dude, they’re going to be here any minute now, you’ve already wasted enough time. Let’s go…NOW!

You went out of your trance and nodded. Vanderwood and Seven lifted the unconscious man from the floor and began dragging him with them. You felt interested seeing how natural it seemed for them to be working together in a situation like this; they must have had dangerous missions like this all the time. The rest of the RFA started following them matching their quick pace, including Saeran that got up a second after you started walking. 

-Are you okay? –You asked him when he ended up jogging beside you, everyone but Vanderwood and Seven turned to look at you but you didn’t care, you waited for his answer.

He simply nodded, and you could have sworn that he also blushed a little. Seven must have heard him too because his shoulders seemed to relax.

You were all moving quickly and silently through the long corridors formed by the eerie glistening capsules, you were both scared and sad by looking at them. You kept thinking over and over what the man had said, “the only way you can create genuine emotions in players is when your characters are as genuine as possible. And what better way to do that than to use real humans?” You clenched your jaw in anger.

You were so lost in your thoughts that before you knew it, you were in front a large, tall metallic door. Vanderwood passed the man to Seven, and retrieved a pocket laptop from their coat. You watched in awe as they plugged it with some sucking devices to the door and turned it on.

-Time to work your magic, 707. –Vanderwood said moving to one side, Seven smiled weakly and walked up to the computer passing the man back to Vanderwood. 

His skillful fingers started pressing the keys as fast as lighting.

-Saeran, come here and help me. We’re basically on the same hacking level after all…-said Seven.

Everyone turned to look at Saeran as suspiciously as ever. Saeran walked up there and it almost felt like when the weird kid stands up to the front of the class to solve a problem when the rest is looking at them. You knew because you had been that kid many times.

Nobody said anything in the seconds that followed when Saeran started checking the screen with Saeyoung and whispering things to him that you couldn’t understand. But then, everyone stopped breathing when voices could suddenly be heard not so far away from there.

-We have 2 minutes more –said Vanderwood matter-of-factly. 

The twins simply nodded immersed in the computer. You wished you could do something and judging by everyone else’s expressions they were feeling the same. Zen sighed frustrated.

-I can hold him if you want, so you can help them. –Zen told Vanderwood while pointing at Kun.

-Agency training is necessary for hostage handling. –said Vanderwood coldly not even turning to look at him.

Zen nodded uncomfortably and Jumin chuckled because of it. Jumin never chuckled and that at least helped to ease the tension a little bit. 

But then, the voices were now accompanied by footsteps making you all turn around in anxiety. But in that moment, the door emitted a couple of high-pitched sounds and started to automatically slide open. You felt that whoever was following you was probably just around the corner now. 

Then Saeyoung unplugged the pocket computer and closed it under his arm. You all went quickly through the door, entering a well-lighted, all around metallic corridor.  
As soon as the last one of you went through the door, you saw at least 10 people in red uniforms running towards you with guns. One of them pointed at you.

-They have the boss! –shouted the employee to the others. 

Instinctively you backed away, but then Saeyoung quickly pressed a code on a small keyboard on the wall and the door shut close immediately, leaving them on the other side. You all lowered yourselves and covered your ears when merely a second after bullets could be heard impacting the other side of the door. You were safe, but for how long? 

You suddenly felt a pair of eyes looking at you; you turned and saw Saeyoung looking at you. You haven't seen him this terrified before, his eyes also had a combination of regret and worry. You opened your mouth to tell him something, but Yoosung spoke up first. 

-What’s with all these persecutions?! –said Yoosung anxious.

-I don’t know, but we better get going fast. –said Saeyoung after a moment- __...

-Yes? –You asked with your eyes opened wide.

-Stay beside me. –He said, the terrified expression was all gone now, replaced by determination.

You nodded and walked up to him feeling your stomach swirl with guilt. You knew him, you had worried him. Were you even worthy of worry? 

Saeyoung started leading the group just one step ahead of you and then followed by Vanderwood carrying Kun and then the rest of the RFA.  
The corridors were clean and well-lit like a hospital, but metallic and deserted. The only sounds were those of your shoeless steps and agitated breathings that only made you more anxious. 

-This is weird –said Seven after a while.

-What is? –asked Jaehee.

-We have been jogging for a while and there aren’t any doors. –answered Saeran instead and Saeyoung nodded.

-I had time to download a map from the door, and according to it –said Seven checking the pocket laptop again for the tenth time in the last minute- we should have passed at least a couple of doors already. 

-What do we do then? –asked Zen.

Saeyoung suddenly stopped, making everyone else stop as well. To everyone’s amazement, he kneeled down and began patting the floor searching for something.

-Everyone, start looking for some kind of door, crack, or anything that seems different on the floor. –Saeyoung said and everyone followed pressing the floor with either their hands or their feet. 

Yoosung was even jumping up and down from one place to another; you admired his determination but also you thought he looked funny. Then, suddenly he seemed to sink on one particular area, a square formed on the previously homogeneous floor under his feet. 

-Ah! –He exclaimed- Think I found something.

Everyone gathered around him as he stepped back up from the square. Seven kneeled down beside it and patted down the area. Then, your heart jumped when he directed his gaze towards you.

-__, can I borrow the tool belt? –He said simply. 

Due to the surprise, you forgot for a second and didn’t know what he was talking about. But then as soon as you remembered you realized you were still carrying it, you passed it to him. 

He took a hammer and then proceeded to examine the square, and then he raised the hammer with both hands and without any other type of warning, he hit it down hard. Yoosung and Jaehee gasped when at the second hit the square fell revealing what looked like an air-vent passageway. 

-Okay, let’s go –said Seven now securing the tool belt on his waist. 

-Are you going to help me carry this dude? –Vanderwood asked Seven clearly frustrated.

-hmmm…I’ll think about it –said Seven and winked while disappearing in the trap.

You all just stood there for a second, but then Seven’s hand rose out of the trap and he motioned with his finger for all of you to get inside.


	28. Chapter 28

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And after a hundred years, I finally uploaded! I'm so sorry again for always taking forever. I keep hoping to find time to write. Anyways, please tell me what you think of this!! Also, I want to know how excited you are for V's route and what expectations do you have about it. Please let me know! your comments are always greatly appreciated <3
> 
> I love you all and stay safe. xo

You followed him, entering one by one the narrow air vent. The ceiling, walls and floor were all metallic. The floor started making sounds with all of you crawling on it. 

-We have to be extra quiet, guys. –Seven said from up front. 

-How? There’s no way to be quieter than this. –whispered Zen from the back.

-Try landing your palms and knees softer every time. –Seven responded- Oh, and the last to get inside, close the trap behind you. 

-I think the last one is Elizabeth, she’s behind me. –said Yoosung.

-Well, then you close it dummy –said Seven chuckling. 

Being as quiet as possible you kept going. You wondered what would be underneath and around, where would this be leading. But most importantly you wondered when this nightmare was going to end. 

The loudest noise you could hear was Vanderwood dragging Kun through the air vent. Vanderwood was already panting from the effort. After a while they spoke up.

-How long now, 707? –Vanderwood asked clearly irritated.

-According to how I calculated the distances on the map, we should be about to reach an exit in approximately 5 minutes. –Seven responded.

Every second of those 5 minutes your heart was pounding, you knew that just one employee noticing or one alarm ringing could be the end of your lives, but for some reason you felt safe knowing that you had all come this far. You didn’t hear more than what seemed like sounds of machines the rest of the way. 

 

The fresh air was like a miracle when you finally reached the exit, the lights and sounds of the busy streets filled your senses too when Luciel opened the trap. He got out and looked both ways to make sure it was safe, and then he helped you do the same by grabbing your hand for support. The touch of his hand made you look up, but your heart throbbed when he avoided eye contact.

You were now at a dirty, dark alley in busy Seoul, you recognized it right away because of its unique lights, sounds and smells. Although the alley didn’t smell so good with all the trash lying around, it was especially disgusting for the fact that you were still barefoot and wearing the white swimsuit. You hugged yourself when you felt a rush of cold air and looked back to see how everyone was getting out of the air-vent safely. 

-Well…that was honestly easier than what I had expected. Which is a bit suspicious… –Seven said checking around again- But, we shouldn’t test our luck. Vanderwood look inside of the creep’s pockets. 

-Stop bossing me around. –Vanderwood said rolling their eyes but followed. 

-Bingo- They said retrieving a cellphone from Kun’s left pocket. 

-Jumin –said Seven while taking the cellphone. He started fidgeting with it, pressing numbers and letters at the speed of light- I’m going to give you our exact location and 1 min to call someone to pick us up. Do you think we can all stay in one of your propeties for the time being? 

-You don’t even have to ask. –responded Jumin holding Elizabeth on his arms, her fur was still damp so he was also probably protecting her from the cold. 

Seven finally handed the cellphone to Jumin and he dialed fast. 

-Mr. Kim? Yes, this is Han Jumin…Yes, I know…I have been missing for months. But I’m afraid that at the moment there isn’t time to explain, I apologize. I need you to pick me and my friends at this location…

-How is Jumin able to remember the telephone number of his driver? –You whispered to no one specifically.

-According to what we know now, it wouldn’t surprise me if they went to great lengths to make it as realistic as possible for everyone. –Answered Saeran behind you, he looked deep in thoughts.

-He said he should be here in 10 minutes max. –said Jumin hanging up and handed the cellphone back to Seven. 

-Excellent. –Responded Seven and to everyone’s surprise but Vanderwood’s, he grabbed a heavy looking rock that was lying around and smashed the cellphone on the floor until it was nothing but tiny pieces. Then, he grabbed them and spread them on different areas of the alley.

-What are we going to do now with this dude? –asked Vanderwood shaking the still unconscious Kun like he was a ragdoll. 

-Honestly, I don’t know –said Seven grabbing the bridge of his nose and closing his eyes, he still didn’t have glasses- He’s going to slow us down; he’s not going to confess if we take him to the police. 

-I also thought that everyone but Saeran and I can go to the police station to testify. But, I still don’t know how big the organization is…I bet very powerful people are involved, even more powerful than C&R. We need more evidence and time to plan this out. 

-Then, we have to either force a confession out of the son of a bitch, or we have to just get rid of him – said Vanderwood casually. 

Everyone but Saeran visibly froze realizing what Vanderwood really meant by that. You turned to look at Seven, he had a tense serious face. 

-I’m not doing that shit anymore, Vanderwood. –responded Seven.

-You are acting more and more like an idiot since meeting this girl, are you forgetting what he did to your brother, to all of your so called friends?! We have to do it because…!

-I said NO! –said Saeyoung firmly making you feel relieved, especially after the spy had blamed you. Vanderwood open their eyes wide for a moment but then he just scoffed- We’ll make sure he goes to jail with the rest of the company when we have ENOUGH EVIDENCE, so there won’t be any possible way for other people to intervene. For now… we’ll just leave him here. 

-UGH Fine! You’re making a great mistake by wanting to take the high road and you know it! But it’s your damn business, after I’m safe I will be out. 

-Okay. –said Seven coolly getting another scoff from them.

-I’m going to take out the trash...you just fucking made me drag him here... -Vanderwood said shaking their head while walking to the closest large garbage container and throwing Kun there.

-You did the right and smart thing, Seven. –said Yoosung grabbing his shoulder and everyone else agreed.

 

After that, you just stood there in tense silence waiting in the darkest corner, trying to hide from the passersby on the street. Jumin kept looking out for any sign of Mr. Kim. Then finally, an older man looked inside the alley looking at his cellphone as if to check if he was in the right place. Everyone tensed for a moment, before Jumin and Jaehee stepped forward waving at him.

-Let’s go everyone. –Jaehee said.

You were very thankful how the busy streets of Seoul were always full of nightlife regardless of the day of the week, because you just melted perfectly with the crowd despite of what you were wearing. Mr. Kim had apologized for making you walk a couple of streets to get to the van. 

-Look! –Said a girl to her friends at one point looking at all of you, you flinched slightly before she spoke again- They must be performers of some sort, the guy with the long white hair is sooo handsome.

They started giggling excitedly when Zen directed a smile their way. 

-Can’t you act more low-key for once? –asked Jumin annoyed. 

-It’s not my fault that I’m so good loo…-responded Zen but Yoosung punched his shoulder making him silent again. 

You finally arrived, truth was that it wasn’t really far away from the alley, it was just how cautious everyone was that made it feel so far way. You all got in the black van with Seven asking if he could go front, Jumin just nodded nonchalantly and got in the van beside you sitting Elizabeth on his legs. The van was warm, comfortable and quiet; the tinted windows made you feel safe from the world, even if just a little. 

Mr. Kim started the engine and headed up to the streets while you noticed why Seven wanted to sit up front, there was a screen there with a GPS and tons of menus with functions. 

-Is it okay if I mess with this? I don’t want us to leave traces. –asked Seven to Jumin.

-Do what you think it’s necessary, Luciel- responded Jumin from beside you- We’re also not heading to the penthouse at the C&R building that would be too obvious. 

You all nodded agreeing with him. You saw the time right before Seven changed the screen to coding; it was 10:35pm. Until then you hadn’t think about your family or friends. And if anyone had noticed that you were missing. First you obviously didn’t have a job anymore, but what about the people that loved you? You didn’t have many friends to begin with and your family lived on another city, but still you wondered. 

-Mr. Chairman is worried sick about you, Mr. Han. You were missing for over a year, including Elizabeth the third and Kang Jaehee! –Said Mr. Kim making Jumin sigh very deeply closing his eyes- He has paid for countless and very expensive ads, even international ones. He also hired detectives, but you left without a trace. At this point I wouldn’t be surprise if he has started to think that you are dead.

It took a moment for Jumin to answer, worry and pain could be read all over his face for a second, until he seemed to collect himself again closing his arms and eyes.

-I should meet with him right away then. He should be aware of the situation, because he could be targeted too. We still don’t know just how big and powerful the company that kidnapped us is. –responded Jumin.

-k-kidnapped? –asked Mr. Kim. worried.

-Yes, that’s why we’re being so cautious. I also owe you an explanation Mr. Kim. 

-You don’t owe me anything, Mr. Han. I’m just glad that you are safe... it’s just that I’ve been your driver since you were a kid and… –He wasn’t able to finish, but you understood and it made your heart melt. 

-The more reason to explain you, you are like family already. Mr. Kim –Jumin responded wholeheartedly. 

-We…we also tried contacting Kang Jaehee’s family but they didn’t respond…-said Mr. Kim- we’re very sorry Miss Kang.  
-N-not to worry, I didn’t expect otherwise…-You could feel Jaehee sadness and you felt the need to hug her, but then Yoosung spoke. 

-Speaking about family…also my parents…-said Yoosung flinching at the thought.

-Vanderwood and I will make sure you can all contact your families safely and cautiously -said Seven- at the moment is best to concentrate on arriving to a safe place. 

He had a point.

-It's okay, I think there’s no rush for anyone except for Yoosung, __ and Jumin, the rest of us well…I don’t think our families really care. –said Zen smiling sadly turning to look at everyone, especially at Jaehee comprehensively. More sadness started to accumulate in your chest. 

-As the idiot said, we should focus on the current task, okay?! –said Vanderwood ending the conversation.- okay!

 

The ride was longer than what you had expected; you were already on the outlines of the city but still passing by buildings. Saeyoung, Saeran, Jumin and Vanderwood had decided that it would be safer to find a place that was less crowded than downtown, so it would be easier to detect suspicious activity, but that at the same time you could conceal yourselves easily as well. 

You arrived to what seemed like a moderately tall and very elegant building. The sign outside read “Banyan Tree International Hotel”. Mr. Kim parked the van and told you all to wait while he went inside to arrange everything. 

-Please don’t hesitate on using more money if needed to ensure our privacy. –Jumin told Mr. Kim before he left. 

Everyone was so tired; you could tell that everyone was looking forward to finally getting a decent night’s sleep just as much as you were. Jumin left Elizabeth on her own for a moment and started to write on a piece of paper he found in one of the compartments, you didn’t ask what it was. 

-Achoo! Ugh, get that fur-ball away from me. –said Zen when Elizabeth went curiously close to him, you laughed and took her to sit on your lap. 

Not so long after Mr. Kim came back carrying bathroom robes and slippers with the hotel’s logo, he handed them to everyone.

-I told them that you were famous performers and that we wish to keep your stay as private as possible. They’re going to have several dishes from the downstairs restaurant and cat food ready in your room. –He said and Jumin nodded.

-Excellent, thank you for everything, Mr. Kim. –said Jumin handing him the piece of paper he was writing on previously- please give this to my father privately and destroy it after. It has a brief explanation, a date, place and time so we can meet and I can explain everything to him. 

-I am in fact a famous performer…–said Zen mid-way walking to the hotel making you chuckle releasing a bit of tension. 

-Ugh, just shut up- said Jumin. 

You got in the second elevator with Saeran, Saeyoung and Zen. Jaehee, Vanderwood, Yoosung, Jumin and Elizabeth had gone up first. Saeran selected the 31st floor which was the penthouse; you went up quietly while being once again very conscious of Saeyoung because he was standing right next to you. With everything happening, would you have the time to talk to him? 

You arrived to the penthouse and when the doors of the elevator opened; your mouth fell open too. You hadn’t expected the size of the penthouse; it had a full size living room, a kitchenette, a dining table that already had food on it and doors that presumably led to other rooms. Everything seemed very modern and as if it had been remodeled recently, on top of that it was spotlessly clean. 

Sitting on the living room were Zen, Yoosung, Jaehee and Elizabeth. Vanderwood was nowhere to be seen and Jumin was standing up with his arms folded over his chest looking at you as you entered. 

-Welcome everyone, there seems to be 4 rooms and 2 bathrooms, we also have a kitchenette, dinning area and living room. So, we should be able to be fairly comfortable. –said Jumin.

-“Fairly comfortable?” This is so freaking luxurious compared to my student apartment. –said Yoosung hugging one of the fluffy pillows on the the sofa he was sitting.

-Yeah, dude. I guess this is a downgrade for your standards but don’t be so out of touch. –said Zen rolling his eyes. 

You sighed and smiled. 

-I think that what Zen and Yoosung are trying to say is: Thank you, Jumin. –You said sincerely and directed a smile at him.

For a brief moment you could have sworn that Jumin’s cheeks turned a light red color but then he just smiled back at you.

-Alright! I think we should start assigning rooms to everyone. –said Saeyoung suddenly- Saeran and I will be roomates.

-Yeah, I can be roomates with Yoosung. –Said Zen- the ladies can sleep in the same room.

-That only leaves Vanderwood and I –sighed Jumin- Elizabeth can obviously sleep wherever she pleases…before I forget, there’s 2 clothing stores downstairs so we should plan some shopping for tomorrow 

-Mmm…I think it would be best for everyone’s safety to go in pairs. Preferably escorted by me or Vanderwood…or Saeran –said Seven but then everyone gave him glances when he mentioned his brother- um…we’ll decide that in the morning. 

 

Everyone went their way, most of them went to the dining table to get some food but you wanted to lie down for a moment, you were extremely tired. 

You finally entered a room and Jaehee followed you. The room had 2 queen sized beds neatly made and fluffy looking pillows. There was also a bedside table and warm lighting filled the room.

-hmm…I thought I just wanted to sleep right away, but I should really go wash first, __ -said Jaehee smiling at you. 

-Okay –You answered politely returning the smile. 

She left the room closing the door behind her. You laid down on one of the beds, with your dirty feet hanging out of it. You sighed at how comfy it was. Your tired muscles seemed to be more noticeable than ever. You closed your eyes and wondered if you should go wash first or get some food because you were really going to fell asleep if you didn't move asap. Then, you heard the door open again. 

-Oh, that was fast! –you said without opening your eyes.

-We need to talk, __... –said a too familiar voice that made your heart skip a beat.

You opened your eyes and practically jumped to sit up straight again. And without a doubt Saeyoung was standing there in front of you.


	29. Chapter 29

You stayed quiet, dumbfounded for a moment while Saeyoung stood there with his arms crossed over his chest. His face was just serious, it was impossible to read anything else. 

-Saeyoung, um…yes, we need to. –You said trying to speak more firmly at the end.

His expression didn’t change much when he spoke to you again.

-We should go to the balcony, so that Jaehee can sleep. 

-Yes –you answered.

Luciel turned around and got out of the room without saying another word. He left the door opened so you could follow. You stood up and put on the hotel slippers that were on the floor, and then started following after him without knowing where this balcony he was talking about was. 

You could hear everyone laughing and chatting over at the dining table, they felt so distant compared to what you were feeling, but you were glad that at least they were finally able to relax and have a moment to rest. 

Your heart was beating fast when you finally reached the end of the short corridor where the bathrooms were. There was a different door at the very end, Saeyoung opened it and then motioned for you to go through it. 

You were now in a small balcony with two comfy looking chairs pointing at the distance; you felt the cold air of the night on your face once again. This part of the city was not nearly as busy as downtown, but you could still hear cars passing by and people walking on the streets. On the distance the brightest lights of downtown Seoul were blinding. But on this side of town you could see the night sky full of stars. 

You heard Saeyoung closing the door while you walked up to the railing and stood there to admire the view, a moment later you felt Saeyoung stand beside you, staring straight into the night as well. You stood there for who knows how long not wanting to be the first one to speak.

-__ -said Saeyoung finally- You know what I want to talk about…I want to know what happened with Saeran.

You flinched instantly although you knew all along that it was coming, that at some point inevitably you would have to get to this.

-I...I am so sorry, Saeyoung… –Those were the only words that you were able to say before the knot that formed in your throat took away your voice. 

-I don’t want to hear you say that you’re sorry –said Saeyoung, you could tell by his voice that he was trying to sound firm- I know that you are sorry… I just want to know why. Was…was it the game’s programming?

-I-I don’t know! I don’t have any way of knowing that. –You said trying hard to regain control of your voice and your emotions. But the more you tried, the more the tears that were forming in your eyes threatened to fall- What do you even want me to say?!

-The truth! The truth of how you felt... Just give me something! –Said Saeyoung, you were both starting to raise your voice, but it didn’t matter. You felt his stare on your side, but you didn’t dare to face him just yet- I just want you to tell me the truth.

You sighed, nothing really mattered anymore…

-The truth…huh? –You began almost in a whisper- Should I describe you then how Saeran started making moves on me since the moment we met? Or just how much Saeran resembled you in so many ways, but none at the same time?! And how much that confused the fuck out of me. I felt so guilty about it!!

Your voice was trembling now, finally facing him with your whole body. His eyes opened wider not expecting all the emotions that were pouring out of your every pore, while your voice kept getting louder and louder. 

-Should I describe you how the kiss went?! How I felt?! How I couldn’t control myself?! How sure I am that I don’t deserve you. Or actually! I’m just going to tell you how sure I am now that I am nothing but a filthy, fucking sl…!!

But you couldn’t finish, Saeyoung placed his hand on your mouth muffling your last word. 

-Do NOT ever call yourself that. –Said Saeyoung firmly. 

At that was it, your last bit of strength abandoned you. The tears that had been previously and dangerously starting to overflow were now pouring out freely from your eyes. You felt your balance failing you when Saeyoung took his hand from your mouth. You were about to hold the railing for support, when instead Saeyoung pulled you into his arms. 

For a moment you just froze with eyes wide open with your head leaning on his chest, but a moment after you just started crying again. 

-I am so sorry, Saeyoung!! I am so sorry…! –You cried out loud.

-I know, I know…-said Saeyoung while caressing your hair, you could hear his voice trembling too- It’s going to be alright, __...

 

You stayed like that for a while; again time was relative when you were with Seven.  
After emitting a few last sobs, you looked up to see him. He still had tears rolling down silently from his bright golden eyes. Out of impulse, you reached to them and wiped them off his cheeks. You were about to take your hand back when he grabbed it and left it on his cheek. He closed his eyes for a moment feeling your touch before speaking again.

-I understand what happened and I forgive you, __ -you were going to thank him, but he interrupted you- And as I said, we’re going to be alright. I... all I’ve ever wanted in my life is for us to be happy. I love you, __...

Your whole body trembled as if it was the first time he said that. 

-I love you too, Saeyoung. –You said wiping your tears

 

You were now back to the common area of the penthouse, it was dark and quiet. Everyone was most likely already in their respective rooms. You were just mindlessly following Saeyoung when you realized you really needed to take a shower. Also there was still some food left on the dining table, probably left there by the rest of the RFA for you and Seven.

-Seven, I’m going to go shower. I don’t even know what that green liquid that we were floating in was. I mean…I guess have an idea but...

Saeyoung nodded agreeing.

-I should do the same. 

You walked back to the small hallway where the bathrooms were with Seven following you. You entered the one in the right and Seven entered the one in the left, for a moment you had thought….

The bathroom just as the rest of the penthouse was so modern and we'll kept that it looked brand new. There was still some steam left inside from the last person that had showered, still you saw a couple of clean bathrobes neatly hanging from hooks. On the other end of the bathroom you saw a basket containing dirty bathrobes, so you took off yours and threw it there.

You looked down at your body, you still had that hideous white swimsuit that made your stomach compress in fear and anger. You took it off as fast as you could, sliding it down your legs and you threw it immediately in the garbage bin. When it landed you saw a couple more white swimsuits inside of the garbage bin as well, you smiled ironically to yourself knowing that as traumatic as the experience had been, you were not alone. There were so many questions that still needed answering. You thought about the huge gaps that still needed to be filled, from the scariest ones to how Elizabeth had escaped the game too. 

You finally jumped in the shower and turned it on, adjusting the temperature and closing the curtain. You grabbed the complimentary hotel shower gel and shampoo and started washing yourself closing your eyes, letting your mind unwind while the hot water ran down your body, washing everything away. You thought about Saeyoung, probably showering right now next door too. You thought about how much you wanted to make things right this time, to make it up to him. And his words “All I’ve ever wanted in my life is for us to be happy…”

You finished showering and sighed feeling way more comfortable than before. You took one of the clean robes and put it on, using a small towel to dry your hair as much as possible.  
Finally you opened the door to the silent hallway, you passed by the bathroom where Saeyoung had went in, but there wasn’t any sound. As soon as you turned the corner, you saw him sitting on the dining table looking clean and already digging in a sandwich, you couldn’t help but giggle when he looked up and smiled at you with his mouth full. You sat down beside him.

-You…you look so cute –you said without being able to control yourself, shyly looking down placing a strand of hair on the back of your ear. 

When you peeked at him, he was blushing. You heard him swallow. 

-I missed you, __... –He said after a while, you faced him and held your breath at the way he was looking at you.

-I missed you too. 

-You have to eat well, okay? –He said smiling at you, you nodded blushing. 

You took one of the sandwiches and started eating it in silence. The only sound that could be heard besides munching was that of the air conditioning and the kitchenette’s fridge. 

-So –you said both at the same time after minutes of silence.

-Haha, you go first –He said.

-Thanks, um…so we’re going to go shopping tomorrow, right?

-Yeah, I think you read my mind; I was going to mention that too. Remember I was talking about going in pairs? Well, I think you should go with Saeran. –He said nonchalantly.

-Wait, what? –You said almost choking on your sandwich. Did you hear that right?

-I know what you’re thinking, but we really need to go in pairs for everyone’s safety. Preferably with someone that has had training, so…just Vanderwood, Saeran and I. You’re pretty much the only person that would trust Saeran enough to go with him…everyone else is just going to want to go with me or Vanderwood, and that’s going to slow us down, so please, __ –He said with pleading eyes, but confusion must had been plastered all over your face still because then he added.

-Look, I know that besides me you’re the only one that probably understands where Saeran is coming from and how much he has gone through. I’m pretty sure he is at least reliable enough to go shopping with you. And Jumin said there are two clothing stores in this hotel, if it makes you feel safer I will be on the one next door shopping with other RFA member. 

-I… -you started. 

-I’m also going to talk to him before going. –He said with pleading eyes again, what else could you say? It all seemed reasonable enough. 

-…Okay –You sighed.

-Thank you, my love. –He said making your stomach turn.

-Y-you have to give me a heads up before… -You started but he gave you a smirk.

-But I had to get even after you called me cute. –He said and his smirk only made you blush more.

You finished eating and sat there for a moment satisfied. 

-I wonder what time it is- You asked starting to look around for a clock. You finally found one on the microwave inside the kitchenette; it was 1:43 am. 

-Oh, we should really go to sleep now. –You said and Saeyoung yawned beside you while you drank from your glass of water. 

-Yeah –He said finally opening his eyes and looking at you- I really need to find me some glasses tomorrow, I’m tired of feeling like a bat. I really like bats, contrary to popular belief they are super friendly. But they have very bad sight, haha.

You chuckled; you had missed this side of Seven. You both stood up from the table and were about to start walking away when Seven spoke again.

-Wait –He said and you turned to look at him. Placing his hand on your chin, he used his thumb to wipe a drop of water that was apparently about to slip from your lips. You shivered at his touch.

-S-sorry, I just saw it and… -He began but stopped, he was now looking intensely into your eyes. 

Your heartbeat started to pace up, while your breath was caught in your throat. The moments when you started to lean closer to each other were painfully slow. The last thing you saw was his eyes closing at the same time as yours. 

Your lips finally met and you shivered once again feeling their softness. You started kissing him slowly, savoring every moment as if it was the first time you had kissed him. You realized just how much you had missed him when he embraced you in his arms tightly deepening the kiss; you placed a hand on the back of his wet red hair. His kisses felt as drinking water after walking on the desert for days. 

The kiss inevitably started to pace up, there were so many feelings trapped inside both of you; that were yearning to come out. At one moment you had to separate from each other and catch your breath, and that's when you saw his bright golden eyes closed half way and his chest visibly going up and down, you probably looked exactly the same to him.

You resumed the kiss and started mindlessly heading towards the living room, bumping on stuff on the way there but you couldn’t care less. You fell down together on a sofa with Saeyoung on top of you. His hands started roaming over your body accelerating your heartbeats. You started doing the same to him but then froze when one of his hands went under your bathrobe. You moaned on his mouth when he reached your boobs and started fondling them.

-Let’s keep it down. –He said and you nodded.

The truth was that at any moment, someone could go out of their room to go to the bathroom or get something and see you making out half naked on the living room. But that wasn’t stopping you, you had missed each other so much that they had to understand and if anything the prospect of getting caught was just making it more exciting.

You opened his bathrobe from the front, and went up and down his back tracing your nails on it. He sighed deeply when you reached under him and cupped in between his legs, using your palm to massage his already throbbing erection. He started caressing around and in between your wet lips with his fingers, while your tongues kept dancing inside of your mouths.  
Everything felt hot around you, the bathrobe still hanging on his back covering your warm naked bodies like a fort when you started caressing him up and down. 

-I can’t take it anymore –He whispered on your ear after a while of teasing each other like that. He then proceeded to take your hand away from him. 

In a daze, you saw him adjusting your legs around his waist; you shared an anticipating expression before he found your entrance with the tip of his cock and pushed inside. As he was going in slowly, you felt as if you were complete again. When he was about to reach the very back, he took you by surprise and pushed harder resulting in hitting your sweet spot. You had to bite your hand to muffle your moan and arched your back closing your eyes tightly. 

He started with a steady pace, now placing small sweet kisses along your neck. He moved to your ear and started kissing it too, sending even more waves of electricity along your body. 

-I love you, __. I love you so much. –He breathed in your ear making you realize how this angel called Luciel could drag you down to hell and then pull you up to heaven whenever he pleased. 

-Saeyoung… -You breathed.

He started going faster, a few drops of the sweat forming on his forehead dripped down to your hair. You were getting tighter around him and were struggling to stop yourself from moaning out loud, instead you were gripping his ass, but it was only making him penetrate you even harder. 

Your toes where starting to curl, as you prepared yourself for what was coming when he adjusted himself and grabbed your legs closer around him. You felt about to explode when he leaned down closer to you and felt how his pelvis was now rubbing your clit up and down. That and his consistent fast rythm hitting your sweet spot every-single-time was the end of you. 

Your orgasm came slowly but hard, waves of pleasure kept getting bigger and bigger as if you were going up a stairway to heaven. You pulled him closer on the peak of your orgasm while he came almost immediately after. You felt his cum spilling hard and up inside of you. You caught your voice inside of your throat to keep yourself from screaming his name while he kept pushing until the very end of your orgasm. He limited himself to bite your neck, making your insides throb one last time. After a while you finally came down from your high and were able to breathe again, even if it was still irregularly.

Now...you really needed to go into your rooms and sleep.


	30. Chapter 30

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wasn't dead!! I don't have any real excuses, I did have 2 jobs a couple of months ago, but I've been back to my routine for a while now... please don't kill me. >_< I guess life happened and I abandoned this fic a little bit too much... but with the Saeran route I feel inspired once again! So here is chapter 30. I love you all and I missed you!! I look forward to all of your opinions. <3

You opened your eyes slowly and lazily when you heard knocks coming from somewhere. It took you a second to remember that you were in a hotel room. Jaehee got up from the bed beside you and rushed to open the door. You brought yourself up enough to see Jumin standing at the mid-opened door.

-Assistant Kang, please get yourselves ready. I asked the hotel to open the stores downstairs exclusively for us before they open to the rest of the hotel guests so we can shop more securely and with more dignity…-He said clearing his throat at the end, you knew exactly what he was referring to, you were still wearing the damn towel robes. 

Jaehee finished talking to Jumin and closed the door. She turned around to see you.

-You know…I doubt there’s really anything we can do to get ready. Maybe wash our face? –said Jaehee making you chuckle.

Both of you suddenly started to laugh, the situation was so ridiculous but at the same time you were both so relieved for being safe and together, that it was also a laugh of happiness. 

 

After little less than half an hour, everyone was getting together at the living room. You saw Seven going out of his and Saeran’s room yawning and scratching his mop of already messy red hair. Your heart jumped a beat when suddenly he winked at you, you couldn’t contain a smirk or stop your cheeks from blushing, knowing that what happened last night was still your own little secret. Everyone probably still thought that you weren’t talking to each other.

-Helloooo, everynyan! –said Seven happily. Some rolled their eyes. 

-If you’re going to pretend you’re a cat this early in the morning, I swear… -said Zen massaging his temples, although out of everyone he surprisingly looked the best.

-As you know we’re going to go on a little trip! –Seven continued as he hadn’t heard Zen- Mr. Trust-fund-kid here has arranged everything so we can go this early. Now…we’re going to organize the pairs. 

-First we’re going to have Jaehee and Vanderwood, along with Yoosung and I.  
after we come back it’s going to be Zen and I, along with __ and Saeran –He said, mentioning you and Saeran as fast and nonchalantly as he could- and last but not least Jumin escorted by Vanderwood and your always reliable hacker god 707!

-Wait… -Zen said and you froze- why does Trust-fund-kid has to go with both of you?

Your shoulders relaxed again.

-You just said it –said Seven- he IS in fact a trust-fund-kid, he’s probably the one more at risk right now, it could very easily be me, but I’m not a public figure hehe.

-That makes sense…-said Zen.

-Alright-y first group let’s head ou…!

-Wait, wait, waiitttt –said Zen again like something just hit him- Did you just said __ and Saeran? 

Shit. Everyone felt silent waiting for Seven’s response. 

-Yes, I did. –said Seven firmly with a softer smile. 

-And did __ agreed to this? –said Yoosung from the other side of the room looking slightly annoyed as well.

-I did. –You said, and then surprising even yourself you spoke up again- does anyone have any more questions? The clock is ticking. 

No one said anything else, but you saw how Seven smiled at you gratefully and how Saeran opened his eyes briefly in amazement before looking somewhere else when he felt your eyes on him.

 

The first group had gone down half an hour ago and you were sitting down at the living room with Zen, Jumin and Elizabeth the third, she was purring on your lap while you stroked her fluffy white hair while you mindlessly watched the TV. Saeran had gone immediately back to his room.

-Achoo! –Zen sneezed beside you- ugh…I think I should go rest in my room, being this close to the fur ball is just going to make my allergies worse. 

You nodded and looked at Zen until we closed the door of his room. Now it was only Jumin and you, you had been watching a comedy show which honestly was not even that funny, you were just probably watching it to distract yourselves from the current situation.

Jumin must have known what you were thinking because he leaned forward from the armchair he was elegantly sitting on and grabbed the slender TV remote to change the channel. But it wasn’t better; the TV was now transmitting a high quality picture of the man that was sitting near you with at least 4 international and national numbers that people could call for free with information, social media accounts and emails to report any type of information leading to the disappearance of Han Jumin the executive director of C&R international. 

Jumin sighed and just turned off the TV.

-I guess my father hasn’t received the message yet... –He said sounding worried.

-Or maybe he has but it might take a while for him and his employees to take everything down, -you said trying to cheer him up- or actually… it might look suspicious if the search just stops like that, then Cheritz will know that you have been in contact with your father.

Jumin’s face lighted up.

-You’re a smart woman, __ -He said making you blush a little.

-Anyways, I prefer enjoying a nice conversation with you more than watching TV. Would you like a glass of wine? I think a saw a couple of bottles in the minibar. 

-That sounds awesome… but it’s only 7am. -you said.

-That’s what snacks are for –said Jumin making you shake your head but smile. 

 

After another half hour and your second glass of wine, you heard the elevator doors opening with a soft ding, Jaehee, Yoosung, Vanderwood and Seven came out carrying several shopping bags. Jaehee was also carrying a bag with several bagels and a tray of coffee.

Everyone thanked Jaehee and started grabbing coffee and bagels; Seven said he was going to his room to change and to give Saeran an outfit he bought for him since they were almost the same size. Yoosung went to change into clothes as well. And although Vanderwood had been the only one wearing normal clothes, went to change as well. 

When the twins came out, they were both wearing jeans and sneakers. Seven was wearing a black opened zip hoodie with white strings and a simple red t-shirt. For a second you realized how much you missed his black and yellow hoodie. Saeran on the other hand was wearing a navy blue casual jacket and a grey shirt.

-Let’s not waste any more time here, peeps! Zen, Saeran and __ let’s go! –said Seven swallowing his last piece of bagel and walking toward the elevator again.

You stood up and followed with Zen beside you. You didn’t want to look back for some reason, but you assumed that Saeran was following. You stepped on the elevator and almost immediately the doors closed, you looked quickly to your sides worried that Saeran had not made it but he was right beside you. Your eyes met for a second and you looked the other way quickly, ashamed at the possibility of Saeran knowing you were looking for him.

-Okay, soooo… -said Saeyoung taking you out of your head- as mentioned, there are two stores in this hotel. They both have a variety of clothes so it doesn’t really matter what store we shop from, but we’re still going in pairs for safety.

–Why do they have two stores then? –Zen asked after a second of thought.

-Idk, I think they have different brands or something…-Said Seven dismissing it. 

-I wonder which one will go with my style more, I should check them both before going in. –said Zen more to himself than to anyone. You were surprised he didn’t mention anything more about you and Saeran.

Speaking about Saeran he was quiet as always, leaning on one of the elevator walls with his arms crossed, you noticed that the colors he was wearing really complimented his unique eyes. You thought about how different Saeran was acting since you came back from the game, he used to act so bold and confident most of the times. But now he was just quiet all the time, you kept wondering if he was ever going to talk to everyone…or at least to you about what happened back at the mansion, the maze…

Your thoughts were interrupted by the “ding” of the elevator announcing you were now on the right floor. When the metallic doors to the elevator opened, you were greeted by a not so small shopping center; it made you think of the airport duty-free shops. There were racks and shelves well stocked up with perfumes, cosmetics, accessories, magazines, souvenirs etc. The shops were mostly separated by glass walls. 

You could see the two clothing stores opened just a couple of shops away from each other. About four employees were already inside of them. There was one person on each register and the other two seemed to be cleaning, organizing, and doing this and that. But as soon as they saw you all, they straighten up and politely bowed, you bowed in return and felt guilty at how sleepy they still looked, you knew that they surely had moved their schedules at least a couple of hours. 

You could see Zen placing his hand on his chin and already starting to seriously consider which store he wanted to go in, he looked like he was deep in thought and it made you chuckle. Seven stood beside you after a moment and whispered in your ear.

–Okay, my love. What Saeran and I are going to be doing is mainly making sure that the cameras down here are still not working. And although the employees were asked to not bring their cellphones for privacy, we’re just making sure that even if they did, they don’t work either. Remember we are famous performers. –He finished winking.

-We should have a name, you know? –You said while slowly walking into the store that Zen hadn’t choose with Saeran walking somewhat timidly beside you.

-The Ca… -Seven started.

-Nothing to do with cats! –You managed to say jokingly before disappearing completely inside of the store. 

For some reason you wanted to keep talking at least a little bit more with Seven, but you felt that with so many of you this was definitely taking longer than it should. And also, if you were being honest with yourself, Saeran made you nervous. And you just couldn’t decide exactly which kind of nervous. 

You started to browse through the clothing displays with a shopping basket hanging from your arm, you had a somewhat clear idea in mind of what you wanted to get. You started to grab some pants, shorts, t-shirts, a dress, a jean jacket, sneakers, combat boots, a warm jacket etc. 

After a while you looked over discreetly at Saeran curious as to what he was up to. He was just standing a couple of feet away, just looking at his cellphone, typing something. If you had been any other person, you wouldn’t have thought anything of this, but you knew he wasn’t just texting or something, he was probably coding. 

He looked so immersed and concentrated that you couldn’t but to stare at his face a little longer studying his features, Saeran had always been a mystery, since the moment you started playing the game and greatly more so after what happened when you got inside of the actual game. You had always wanted to ask him so many questions. You had always wanted to know more about him...

-__ -said Saeran looking at you startling you slightly, how long had he been looking at you? 

-...Yes? -"Why are you so spacey today?" you asked yourself.

-Are you almost done? –He asked politely but briefly. 

-um, yes I just need some socks. –You said while grabbing a couple of pairs. 

-Okay, because I want to ask you a favor –He said too casually. Or maybe you thought it had been too casually because it caught you off guard- Come over here please. 

Your first steps were slow but then you were standing right beside him.

-I need to get more clothes since Saeyoung just got me this outfit, if you are done can you please grab the cellphone and keep checking for me while I do it? I won’t take long and I’ll explain you.

He definitely had a different attitude and vibe, he felt serious but polite.

-…Sure, what do you need me to do? –You said exchanging him your shopping basket for the cellphone.

-There’s this block of codes just repeating itself on the screen –He said pointing at it, you nodded- Just make sure the words look the same every time a new block pops up on the feed. Saeyoung is watching it too, so don’t worry too much. If you see the words suddenly changing or the feed stopping please tell me. 

-Okay…


	31. Chapter 31

You kept staring at the screen like Saeran had instructed. The blocks of codes kept coming up in intervals of 5 seconds or so, barely enough time for you to check them and confirm if they were identical to the previous block. 

01100011  
01101111  
01101110  
00011010

You began glancing at Saeran every once in a while, seeing how he browsed through the clothes sliding the hangers one by one. Code checking then back to Saeran, code checking, back to Saeran. The minutes kept passing by and every time you felt Saeran was about to look your way, you would look directly down at the screen again. You decided to stop glancing at him and give your full attention to the screen when you almost missed one block of codes.

You started to wonder if Saeran was still remotely attracted to you, were the rest of the RFA? Or if it was completely gone after they were no longer under the grasp of the game. The love between you and Saeyoung had clearly transcended “dimensions” if you could call them like that, since the beginning. 

For a moment you caught yourself hoping that the RFA wasn’t anymore because you had felt enough heartache in the game about that, but Saeran…  
You were so focused on the screen and at the same time so lost in your thoughts, that you didn’t realize when Saeran was approaching you, until he placed a hand on your shoulder. You looked up to see him.

-I’m done; I think we’re good to go now. They’re putting everything on our room’s account. –He said while handing you your bags of clothes. 

-Thank you –You said while giving him the cellphone back. 

Surprisingly Zen and Seven were done too. You had expected Zen to have way more bags than you did, but surprisingly he had less. It all made sense to you when you remembered how he was when it involved other people’s money, you smiled realizing once again what a good person he was. 

You got in the elevator and it started going up, a doubt invaded you.

-Seven? 

-hmm? –he said in the form of a response looking at his cellphone, probably making sure that the elevator cameras weren’t working either.

-Is the hotel security not going to get suspicious if they are not able to see the feed on the security cameras?

-Nah, Saeran and I made sure that they are watching a recording from yesterday when different guards were on their shift. 

-Besides the night shift is probably very tired by now to think too much about it, we found their schedules and they work from 2am to 10am.

-You two really make a great team! –You said, causing Saeyoung to lean forward and give you a kiss on the forehead. 

Zen seemed a little confused by the whole interaction, but didn’t say anything. 

-Which reminds me –Said Saeyoung- We need to go a little bit faster, it’s already 8:10 and we need to finish before the next shift takes over. Then we need to take Mister Jumin Han to talk to his dad.

You realized that until know you didn’t have any idea at what time was Jumin going to meet with his father as you entered back to the penthouse. You saw Jumin standing up from the couch as soon as he saw all of you. 

-Vanderwood!! –Shouted Seven startling everyone but you- Madam!! We should leave right now!! 

-I told you to stop calling me, Madam!!! – said Vanderwood grumpily walking out of their room in their fresh clothes. 

Jumin, Vanderwood and Seven left shortly after. You went to your room to change into the fresh new clothes deciding on (imagine an outfit that fits your style) and a pair of boots. You packed the rest of your new clothes in the backpack you had gotten as well. Now you didn’t know what to do next, you were still tired for the continuous short sleeping hours but you didn’t really feel like taking a nap. So, you decided that the only thing to do was to watch TV while the others returned

A movie was playing in the living room TV now. After sitting down beside Saeran and Jaehee on one of the spacious couches, you felt it was more like the background of your thoughts, the ones you were having at the hotel stores but also new ones. The words that Seven said earlier crossed your mind “All I’ve ever wanted in my life is for us to be happy…”

Really? That’s what he had ever wanted in life? You knew he loved you as much as you loved him, but still you always thought that his most powerful desire in life was to be happy with Saeran to be able to live a happy life with him.

-__ -Said Saeran suddenly -Would you please come with me to buy some ice cream?

For a moment you thought that you had heard wrong but by Jaehee’s expression you hadn’t. 

i-ice cream? –you asked dumb founded 

Yes! –He said a little bit louder than he had probably intended- There’s a convenience store down the street, it is not far away and I already told Saeyoung, I just finished setting up the security cameras just now so we can go safely.

-Saeyoung told you it was okay? –You asked again, not being able to get over your disbelief.

-Yes, I just texted him. He knows it has always cheered me up…and we’ll bring some to everyone else too. –He seemed sincere.

-I thought the hotel had ice cream on their menu…-said Jaehee beside him. You knew she was being suspicious and you couldn’t blame her.

-They do, but it is just banana split. –responded Saeran calmly.

-We could ask the hotel to just bring us the… -suggested Jaehee.

-It’s okay, Jaehee –You said before she finished- what if you come with us? 

Jaehee considered it for a couple of seconds.

-Can I see that text? –said Jaehee seriously, you knew this cautious part of her and you knew it was justified more than ever.

She read it twice and sighed. If you knew Saeyoung well, you could perfectly imagine how he had approved such a silly mission.

-Okay, it looks like a text from him…and I guess it would not be a bad idea- Jaehee said- I am getting anxious of being here anyways…and this movie is very bad.  
You softly laughed and the tension eased a little bit.

-I’ll go grab my coat, I think someone said earlier that it was raining outside. –She said before standing up and going towards your shared room. 

You walked up to the balcony door while Saeran went to grab his coat too. There really weren’t any windows inside the hotel penthouse; you opened the door and felt chilly instantly. It was true; a slightly humid but still cold weather was accompanied by some moderate rain. You looked quickly at the dark grey sky before closing the door once again. “I better get a coat too” you thought.

In an instant Saeran, Jaehee and you were standing on the elevator with warm and waterproof coats on. Jaehee and Saeran were also carrying umbrellas; you didn’t know why you hadn’t thought on getting one too at the stores earlier. 

Just like Saeyoung, Saeran stared at his cellphone once again and ran an app; now you knew that he was messing with the elevator cameras.  
The elevator dinged and when the doors opened you could see the elegant hotel lobby where the guests where checking in or out at the desk, there was elegant and soft music playing. Thankfully none of the employees (or anyone else for that matter) really payed any attention to you when you walked out of the elevator.

Still, you cautiously walked towards the entrance of the hotel and exit it while Saeran and Jaehee opened their umbrellas. You started walking beside them putting on your jacket’s hood, when you felt an umbrella over your head, it was Saeran’s. You turned to look at him but he kept looking forwards while a light shade of red appeared on his cheeks, it was probably the first time you had seen him blush. 

You had learned throughout the game how Saeran’s mood could change all the time and very extremely, you knew he had a mental illness and you wanted to comprehend it better so you could help him feel comfortable around you and eventually the RFA. For that you still had to talk to him about what happened at the mansion, you hoped that conversation would happen sooner rather than later, so you could be closer…as a group. 

You looked down to see your boots hitting the wet pavement, stepping on a couple of small puddles. For how long had it been raining? Perhaps it wasn’t that bad because after all Jumin would have to meet with his father soon, and you knew the RFA was also working on helping Yoosung to meet discretely with his family too. What month was it?...for the looks around you it was nowhere near Christmas anymore, you didn’t see anything remotely resembling Christmas, was it closer to New Year’s Eve?

You and Saeran kept naturally bumping slightly into each other while walking, after a while Saeran opted for giving you more space on the umbrella and a bit of his hair started getting wet so he also put his hood on. 

You finally arrived to the small but modern convenience store and walked in, a soft ding probably informed the employees that someone had just entered. Once again Saeran looked down to his cellphone and started running another app. You realized then that in today’s world cameras were absolutely everywhere. 

After a few seconds Saeran looked up from his phone again and all of you uncovered your heads and walked directly to the refrigerators. You looked at all the flavors and decided to basically take one of each. You thought about Seven and looked in the chips section for some Honey Buddha Chips, but as you had imagined there weren’t any. You wondered if Seven would be able to get boxes of Honey Buddha Chips on the real world too, but honestly you knew the answer to that question.

You decided to pick a couple of different chips and then walked behind Jaehee and Saeran that were already near the register. A bored-to-death looking guy with a mustache checked your items and announced unceremoniously.

-16,125 won 

Jaehee handed him the money while Saeran and you took the shopping bags. Truth was that you were happy it had been such a calming, small trip where nothing big had happened, the rain made you feel safe, as if for a moment you were concealed from the eyes of the world even if just a little. 

As soon as you came out of the store, Saeran took his place beside you again covering you with the umbrella. Jaehee asked for the cellphone saying she wanted to check a couple of things, you imagined what some of those where. To be honest you also wanted to, but you weren’t ready yet to see things like what day it was, what had happened to your apartment and job and if anyone had figured out you were missing. 

Jaehee ended up walking a little behind you two distracted with the cellphone. And although the trip had been mostly silent you felt awkward for the first time. You felt the need to say something to Saeran but you didn’t know what.

-You know…back, back at the mansion –He started all of a sudden and you looked at him expectantly, your heart skipped a beat.

-I think Saeyoung already figured this out because we talked about it last night…but I think my mental illness –He sighed and pause before continuing- Had something to do with it, but the fact that Cheritz was trying so hard to regain control of me again made it way worse. But still…I have no excuses and I want to apologize.

-I understand…-You said- I can only imagine what a mental illness can do to a person’s control over themselves. And I do believe that the game had a lot to do with pushing you over the edge. I forgive you.

-Thank you…-said Saeran gulping suddenly- I just want everyone to know that even on that state I never really wanted to hurt anyone…not seriously. I am obviously going to apologize to the RFA but I wanted to first talk to you and Saeyoung. 

You nodded comprehensively. 

-What did he said? –You asked although you knew Seven too well and realized since the whole Kun situation he was acting more normally with him.

-Well, he said he understands too and that he knows that everything is going to be way better from now on. 

He continued.

-Saeyoung…he is actually pretty excited about the future and he also wants us to talk about something else…about something he feels that happens between…-He gulped once again and you didn’t expect what was coming next- between us. 

You felt your heat pacing up and your chest tightening, a million thoughts invaded you all of a sudden. What was this feeling? guilt? worry? hope?  
You opened your mouth to speak, but Jaehee spoke first from behind you.

-Saeran, __. We have to go back to the hotel, quickly!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I'm sorry, another cliff-hanger!! I can't help it!!  
> I should be updating again around the 7th of March because I'm going to my home country!! Super excited to see my family. But the wait will be worth it, I promise!  
> Thank you for being such awesome readers, you inspire me to be better everytime and I love, love, love every single one of you ❤
> 
> xoxo,  
> Elena


	32. Chapter 32

-Jaehee, what happened?! –asked Saeran while you all headed in almost a run towards the hotel, splashing the puddles on your way.

-Someone recognized Mr. Han from the lobby. They still don’t know if it was just a good person trying to call because of the disappearance ads, or one of Cheritz’s staff. Apparently they saw Mr. Han and immediately picked up their phone.

-Either way, we are going to relocate now. –finished Jaehee when you reached the hotel’s entrance.

You walked quickly but discretely to the elevator, taking longer than necessary to close the umbrella, so it will cover your faces longer.

Once you reached the penthouse, everyone froze as soon and the elevator doors opened with a ding. As soon as they realized it was you three, they continued packing in a panic. You saw Seven at the very end closer to the kitchen with gloves, a spray cleaning product and a hand towel. You imagined he was trying to clean as many fingerprints as he could from all of you.

Without time to waste Jaehee and you ran towards your room to collect your things. Luckily most of your stuff was already inside of your backpack, you threw the bags full of ice cream and snacks that you were still carrying inside of it. And waited for Jaehee to finish packing, then you were back at the living room.

Everyone’s stuff was piled near the elevator already, Vanderwood handed you and Jaehee a pair of disposable blue gloves, just like the ones everyone else was now wearing. Then without a word, Vanderwood started to help Saeran and Seven cleaning the fingerprints throughout the apartment, going considerably faster than them.

-Are you sure we can’t help? –Zen asked Seven looking impatient.

-Sure, sure. –responded Seven not looking towards him, concentrated on his task- We’re are the only ones trained for this.

Zen just sighed and crossed his arms over his chest, trying to stay calm.

-I hope they don’t find any of Elizabeth’s beautiful white hairs. –said Jumin, he was carrying Elizabeth inside a carrier.

-Meow…–said Elizabeth.

Not even a second after that, Vanderwood came out of one of the rooms cleaning the floor with a vacuum that you had no idea where they had got it from.

 

You didn’t know exactly how much time had passed when Saeran, Saeyoung and Vanderwood finally finished and were ready to go, but it had felt like an eternity.

-Okay, is Mr. Kim outside already? –Seven asked Jumin.

-Yes, he is waiting near the trash alley as you instructed.

-Perfect, now let’s go everyone. –He said and everyone was more than ready to follow him.

With one last glance at the apartment Vanderwood and Saeran got into the elevator where everyone was pressed against each other trying to go all at once as planned. Saeran ended up pressed beside you, making you blush a little while trying to steady your nerves so he wouldn’t feel your pulse going up. You imagined it was your anxiety acting up about the whole situation.

The elevator stopped at the floor just below the penthouse. Everyone got out and you noticed how Vanderwood, Seven and Saeran were working as a team, both by checking if everything was safe around you and by deactivating the security cameras on your way.

You all started walking down the stairs as the planned also, while being as quiet as possible. you were starting to feel a little tired after the 6th floor you had descended, but nothing compared to Yoosung that was already panting and sweating. You laughed quietly.

You were finally about to reach the first floor, when Seven that was leading the way stopped all of you with a hand motion.

-We’re going to walk in pairs, the exit to the trash alley is just here to the left, closer to the hotel’s entrance than to the reception. –whispered Seven.

You got out as instructed in random pairs, Jaehee and you being almost the last ones.

You were getting inside the big black van with tinted windows from the other night, that was hidden below some trees, when Seven and Vanderwood finally came out to the trash alley as well. You were grateful it was still cloudy and raining, you imagined that helped conceal all of you while exiting.

Seven sighed when finally sitting beside you and sliding the door close.

-Thank you, Mr. Kim –said Seven.

-Of course –responded Mr. Kim nodding politely- I was also able to do the check out from the hotel online. 

-Excellent. Thank you once again, Mr. Kim –responded Jumin from the very back.

The van started moving towards the street from the back of the hotel, you were heading to a location that was unknown to you. You noticed how Mr. Kim will do weird turns and then would go in circles a couple of times as to make sure that if you were being followed they weren’t able to keep up with you.

You looked at the time on car’s navigation screen. It was almost noon. You wondered if you were finally headed to see Jumin’s father.

Seven had been mostly attentive to the road and lost in thoughts, but after a while he seemed to relax a little bit. You felt his hand sneakily closing around yours, spreading a calm and warm feeling throughout your body. You entangled your fingers with his.

 

-We’re almost there –announced Mr. Kim.

You had reached the heart of the city again. Although it was still early and raining, downtown Seoul was as busy as always, with people crossing the road carrying umbrellas, cars honking and distracting advertisements playing everywhere on the multiple giant screens mounted on the tall buildings and skyscrapers. 

-Mr. Chairman decided that it would be safer to meet on one of the most unknown companies owned by C&R, but in downtown Seoul where you would be concealed by people easier. Jumin nodded agreeing.

-Innisfree –said Jumin.

-Precisely –said Mr. Kim.

-That’s…that’s one of my favorite skincare brands! –said Zen suddenly- I didn’t know that company was owned by C&R!

-Precisely -said Jumin as well, in that sometimes robotic way of his. Making Zen go from amazed to annoyed in a split second.

You smiled amused, but didn’t say anything.

 

You went down to an underground parking lot, below one of the tall buildings not so different from the rest. Mr. Kim parked almost on the very back close to what seemed like a private elevator.

-Should we go inside as well? –asked Seven.

-No, I think you would be safer here. –Responded Jumin- is anyone hungry? I can send someone down here with food.

-Um…we just bought some snacks. –said Saeran timidly and everyone looked at him like they just realized he was still there.

Saeran had this ability to him, to go unnoticed very easily. It was something that you had noticed but that didn’t really work with you. Since the moment you had met him, he was always very much present for you.

-Yes, we have them in our backpacks. You go ahead, Jumin. We’ll be alright. –You said and Jumin smiled back at you.

-I won’t be long –He said exiting the van followed by Mr. Kim.

After a moment Saeran and you started distributing the snacks around. The sounds of bags opening and munching filling the van.

-Although I’m glad we have something to eat…I wish we were getting proper meals more often. –said Zen slowly eating dried apple slices.

-I don’t mind at all –said Yoosung happily eating from a bag of chips.

-Me neither –followed Seven with a mouthful of chips as well- Although I wouldn’t mind some Honey Buddha Chips, this is good.

You looked around curiously at Saeran, your felt a bubble of joy forming inside your chest when you saw him concentrated on eating his tub of mint and chocolate ice cream with a plastic spoon you had picked up at the convenience store.

How did he manage to be so dangerous one moment and then so cute the next? It was something not so different from Saeyoung. There were still many things you still wanted to know about the twins. You felt determined to figure them out eventually. You were so lost in your thoughts that you didn’t realize you had been staring at Saeran the whole time, until he looked up probably feeling your stare and looked surprised. You felt how your entire face hated up to the point you were a 100% sure he noticed you had blushed. You straighten up looking to the front again in one fast movement, one that you were also completely sure had not looked as natural as you had intended.

To your dismay Saeyoung seemed to have notice this, because he looked at you curiously for a second, but then slightly smirked.

-Hey, __ -he whispered getting your full attention –did you…did you get the chance to talk to Saeran on that ice cream mission?

You stopped eating for a second processing what he had said and after realizing that probably no one had heard it since everyone else was chatting casually, you responded.

-I did. –You said not sure on what else to say. You remembered Saeran words very vividly; Saeyoung wanted for them to talk about what happens between them. But what was that exactly? With all the hustle you didn’t have the time to ask him. Although very deep down you could almost grasp it. 

-So? –asked Saeyoung patiently after a second of you not saying anything else.

-Well, he apologized and then…I didn’t understand what you meant, what is it exactly you want us to talk about?…-You answered sincerely.

-I think…I think you’ll figure it out in time…as Saeran already has. –Seven answered simply, giving you one of those smiles that always managed to make you feel loved.

You didn’t say anything else, not because you didn’t have more questions, but because you didn’t know how to word them.

 

Jumin and Mr. Kim finally came back and got inside of the van. Jumin had this calmer energy on him and it made you very happy, you were sure his reunion with his father had gone well.

Mr. Kim started driving almost right away again while Jumin started passing everyone bags full of Innisfree skincare products and other toiletries, you felt happy of finally having some proper toiletries. But your happiness was not even close to Zen’s as you could read in his eyes. You couldn’t contain a chuckle.

Jumin also explained that you were all now headed to a different secure place so Yoosung could meet with his family too.

After that you were going to go to a place where you could stay safely. It was a private property that Mr. Chairman owned outside of the city, in the woods. As many rich people do, he had managed to have this place under an alias instead of his name for safety. It was a place where he went on rare occasions when he wanted a type of peace he would never find in the city.

You felt excited, as you knew it was going to be the perfect place to finally plan how you were going to take down Cheritz and exposed them to the world, and also…it would be the perfect place to figure things out with a certain someone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize once again for taking forever to upload a chapter. I am the worst at actually uploading when I say I will. Sometimes it takes me a while to sit down for a couple of hours and write a chapter, but when I do is always with joy. Speaking about that...what does everyone think about the new game by Cheritz? Do you think is going to be as great as Mystic Messenger?? I saw the overview as so far it looks really good! I'm going to miss our loved characters, as I know everyone else will. But of course but they will always be alive through fan fiction, comics, etc. I love our fandom :)!! Anyways, as always I hope you enjoy the chapter, I love loveee, reading your comments and answering them. Enjoy!!!


	33. Chapter 33

The other location where Yoosung was going to meet his family was not so far away, but this one was very different. They had decided on an empty room in a random and large office building, turns out Jumin had agreed to one month’s pay just for them to meet today. You realized once again that if it wasn’t for Jumin you wouldn’t be able to do more than half the things. In all honesty you would probably be dead by now. And it wasn’t only because he had a lot of money to spend, but also because he was a very smart man.

  
Finally, Mr. Kim entered the big parking lot, making sure to park almost right in the entrance but surrounded by cars, so it would be hard to spot you. Which was going to be very important due to Yoosung’s bright blond hair, that always managed to catch one pair of eyes or two. Probably thinking about this too, Yoosung pulled up the hood from the baby blue sweatshirt that he had grabbed this morning and exited the van alone trembling a little, you couldn’t tell if it was the nerves, the chilly weather or both.

-Would he be alright? –asked Jaehee.

  
-He has no reason not to –responded Jumin- we gave him the floor, office number and key. His family has been waiting for him for about 20 min now.

-I’m so glad he’s finally going to meet with them, they have so much to talk about… –said Zen and everyone nodded silently.

-Well, I gave him exactly 35 min, so he better not be long. –responded Jumin earning a groan from Zen.

  
-Why do you always have to act like a robot? You’re the one that’s always talking about how important family is. –said Zen already annoyed.

  
-And I stand by that –said Jumin- but you have to realize that…

 

Your mind started drifting away from their conversation and soon they were just background noise. You thought about your own family and felt guilty that to this moment you had not been trying to find out about them, Seven had briefly suggested it a couple of times, but every time he would you would just say “later”.

Besides you didn’t know how much time had passed in real life while you were in the videogame. For Jaehee and Jumin it had been over a year and a half, but they mentioned that in the game it felt like years and that it was probably very hard to tell due to the resets. Trapped in an endless loop…you got chills thinking about it again.

  
The time had to be a similar for everyone else; Cheritz had kidnapped everyone in the game almost one by one, like a chain. You also didn’t know how much time had passed for you, but probably less than you thought since resets were not happening while you were there, right? In the game at least it had been less than a week.

  
And even if in the real world more time had passed, you knew that your boring office job probably didn’t even bother to go check your apartment after you didn’t respond their calls. The rent and utilities were always paid automatically, you didn’t even see your friends weeks at a time and your family lived in another city, you didn’t communicate with them much either. Were you always actively trying to be that alone before meeting Saeyoung? You sighed

-What’s wrong? -said Saeyoung that was still sitting beside you.  
You looked at him coming down from your thoughts, his golden eyes warm and welcoming as always. You just shook your head dismissing it, grabbed his hand and rested your head on his shoulder closing your eyes. His all too familiar scent made you smile.

And after what felt more than 35 min just because Jumin kept giving this 5 minute updates making everyone more annoyed every time, Yoosung was in the back with all of you again.

  
-Okay, let’s go. –said Jumin and Mr. Kim started the ignition right away.

  
And off you went again, to another location. You were eager about staying in a place longer than you had until now, you had been on the run for days and it had been incredibly exhausting. And for the looks of everyone else when you arrived after a couple of hours to the breathtaking location deep in the woods, they were too.

-I just noticed we always end up in some kind of forest over and over again. –observed Yoosung, referring to Mint Eye of course.

  
But this place couldn’t be more different than Mint Eye, it was fully surrounded by tall trees, the beautiful afternoon rays came down through them illuminating the property.

  
It was a modern black building with polarized large windows for added privacy. It looked like it had been built with the surrounding trees in mind, as to not bother nature; there was certain harmony to it. It had a large wooden deck on the first floor, solar panels on the roof and even some of the walls were “green walls” that besides camouflaging the building better, they were giving home to some forest animals like squirrels and birds.  
After a few moments, you looked around to see everyone else and they were just as impressed as you were.

-There is no doubt that Mr. Chairman has an excellent taste. –said Jaehee making Jumin smile and nod.  
You entered the property carrying your bags with Mr. Kim using a card and a code. The house was just as breathtaking from inside. Modern, elegant and sustainable.

-Due to Mr. Chairman using this property only to escape from the city, there aren’t many rooms but they are very spacious and we can easily move couches that turn to beds into them. –said Mr. Kim

You really wanted to be with Saeyoung this time, but you knew he probably wanted to stay with his brother again for the same reasons than last time. At the end somehow, you had ended up with a small individual room all for yourself, you protested but it was everyone against you. Deep down though, you were happy that Saeyoung and Saeran were going to be right next door from you.

You couldn’t believe it was almost 6pm, the sun would start to set pretty soon. After everyone had left their things in their respecrive rooms, you were all now hanging out at the kitchen. Jumin had insisted that Mr. Kim stayed for the night, but he had refused profusely, he wanted to come back tomorrow with fresh food for all of you.

For now you were going to be fine, there were a couple of different types of cans, pasta, rice boxes and sauces in the pantry. There was also some frozen vegetables in the freezer. You were all trying to figure out what to make for dinner, when Seven spoke.

-Out of all of us, Saeran is the best cook. We should let him do his thing. Would you like that, brother? –Seven asked him enthusiastically.

Everyone looked at Saeran which had been standing quietly on the corner of the large kitchen island with his arms crossed on his chest. He raised his eyebrows slightly.

  
-Yes, Saeran pleaseeeee –You pleaded.

As soon as he looked into your eyes a little bit surprised, you realized the way that you had asked him. You both blushed. 

-Um…sure, I really like...cooking. –he said after some seconds passed.

You were all finally at the dinning table, it was a little bit small for all of you, but it felt cozy. There was happy chat going on, you could tell that everyone was feeling safer and calmer after Yoosung and Jumin had met with their families. And you had a clear goal now, although you didn't know were to start. 

 

-__, can you pass me more rice? -asked Saeyoung that was sitting second from Jaehee at your left.

-uuhh...-You didn't know why he hadn't asked Saeran who was sitting at your right closer to the rice bowl, but at the moment he was too concentrated on his plate. You didn't want to bother him, so you complied. 

You streched yourself across Saeran, trying not invade his space as much as possible, but the table was really crowded. You grabbed the rice bowl and as soon as you started coming back with it, you felt the back of your arm hitting something. It was Saeran's glass of water. And it was too late, the whole glass of water that was pretty much full, fell on the table and the water splashed on you, damping your t-shirt and pants. You gasped as soon as you felt it pass through the clothes to your skin, it was cold.

-Are you okay, __? asked Zen that was sitting across from you.

-Yeah, I guess I need to go change. -you said.

Then everyone just looked away and resumed their chat so you wouldn't feel more embarrassed than you were already.

-Thanks, __. And sorry -said Saeyoung when you finally passed him the bowl of rice. Somehow he didn't look so sorry, he had a little smirk on him.

You heard something rolling on your right, and remembered about the glass. You turned fast to catch it but Saeran was already holding it in his hand. It would have most likely shattered as soon as it hit the floor. 

-Thanks. -You told him timidly. 

You both seemed to realize then how close you were. So Saeran decided to direct his gaze somewhere else, but regretted it immediately when he realized he was now looking at your wet shirt, he opened his eyes  for a second before a deep red tint appeared on his cheeks, then he managed to look away. You were wearing a thin shirt of course. 

You had practically ran to your room right after that, your heart was beating rapidly on your chest and you felt your cheeks hot. 

-Ugh! -You said to yourself now alone in the room while changing your clothes-That was so embarrassiiiiing

You threw yourself at the bed and closed your eyes hugging the pillow close to your face. "Why do I keep acting like that around him?", "Why does he always make me this nervous?"

Thoughts like this invaded your mind until your heart paced down. You then turned around and looked outside the large window that was in your small room, it occupied almost all the right wall. And although the windows from outside looked completely polarized, It was amazing how clear you could see everything from the inside, almost like there was no window at all. You stayed there to admire the last rays of the sunset.

You were now drifting into sleep, you were really tired. You knew you still needed to go to the bathroom down the hallway and brush your teeth and face. You were also not planning to sleep in jeans, but your body had other plans. You finally reached that fine line between being awake and asleep, when someone knocked gently on the door.

-Hmm...come in -You said lazily.

You were half expecting to see Saeyoung at the door, but when your eyes adjusted your heart jumped a bit and you came back to your senses faster. It was Saeran.

-Uh, did I wake you up? I'm sorry...I just noticed you didn't finish having dinner and at least I wanted to bring you some dessert. -He said. He was carrying two bowls with ice cream. 

-O-Oh...-You said. At first you didn't know what to do but then you smiled.

-Thank you, please sit down-You said motioning to the edge of the bed since there wasn't another place to sit. 

Saeran timidly hesitated a moment but then he sat down and handed you your bowl of ice cream. 

You both lifted the metal spoons from your bowls and started eating in silence. It was chocolate, delicious but a bit too soft, probably only having time to get half frozen when you put it in the freezer as soon as you arrived.

Your room didn't have any lights on. There was enough light earlier when you changed because of the sunset, but now you could only see the stars outside. They lightly illuminated the room. For that reason you didn't really want to turn the lights on. Saeran might have thought the same thing, because he stared at the window just like yourself. 

The only sound were those of the spoons. Somehow being in silence with Saeran was not uncomfortable at all. But it made you feel anxious...the kind of anxiety mixed with happiness and peace, the one that you feel when you're with someone that you...

-__ -said Saeran interrupting your thoughts. 

-I...I need to tell you something- He continued trying very obviously to sound firm.

-Yes? -You asked expectantly. 

-I am in love with you. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sooo excited for what is about to come, I have sooo many plans. *rubs hands*  
> Shout out to Mr. Kim for being so sweet. He reminds me of Alfred from Batman every time I write him for some reason. 
> 
> I just noticed how in this fic I talk about food all the time lol. But they have to eat properly! And eat some snacks too!  
> Also I think that food plays a big part on Mystic Messenger at times. Can you imagine how the RFA will feel if you didn't eat regular meals, my dear reader?! haha. Anyways as always I really hope you like this chapter, love you all!!!!


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